Fates of Worlds - Dimensions
by Snow Leopard Pasha
Summary: Path 3 Sequel to Catalyst Array and Fates of Worlds. While Ed was in Fuhito's northern facility, he suddenly blacked out-and woke to find that things had changed. Things have gone poorly for him for a long time, but now, he's finding that EVERYTHING has changed.
1. 01-Failed Isolation

**A/N: **Like always, I don't own either FFVII or FMA:B/manga. I'm only saying this once!

**If you haven't read Catalyst Array and Salvation's Hands (to the end of chapter 68) and/or Fates of Worlds (ideally, to the end of chapter 33), do so before you read Fates of Worlds—Dimensions or this story won't make any sense!**

**Note: Ed will be very different, especially in the early part of the story, because he's had a very rough time of things.**

Okay, so this branch of the story actually originated from me going, 'but what if?' about 3 different things at once. Anyone who wants to know can leave a review or PM me about how this branch came to be. Suffice it to say that once a few particular ideas occurred to me (including how Ed isn't TECHNICALLY 'part' of Gaia's system), it seemed a shame not to apply them, and this includes the 'unexpected Amestrian' who will appear. **Khait Khepri, you're not allowed to give that person away in a review until they appear! :P And thanks for all your help getting the kinks worked out of this one!**

**There are quite a few OC's in the Turks, and a few other people may also show up (that's undecided), so there will be a new List of Current Turks once most of the OC's have appeared**, but not right now or I'd spoil a lot of my own story. I'd suggest you pay more attention to the small details of this story than in previous ones, or you're going to get blindsided. A lot.

I've developed or semi-developed a basic idea of what happened in most of the dimensions Ed has been in, but you'll have to find that out in bits and pieces as you go. Some of my ideas came from FFVII fanfics I've read—a few of those creeped me out, which was why they were actually ideal to apply to this in general basis. If someone feels I should mention a fic name and author by what data was included (no, nothing anyone specifically wrote), feel free to tell me so, and I'll add them. No one will find a duplicate of another author's fic in my works, only data possibly alluding to one!

**I'm still not going to re-describe anyone who appeared in earlier stories beyond a brief note, so my bold note at the top still stands!** And remember that everything from the previous story parts (CA/SH/FoW) doesn't apply here at this point, other than to Ed specifically—he's back to square 1 with everyone else.

**Also, remember that Ed first appeared on Gaia on July 6th, 0000 (or what we would know as 2000).**

Now, on with the story! Posting day is still Tuesday!

Failed Isolation

In the middle of the dense mountains between Corel and Cosmo Canyon, a blond haired teenaged boy sat on a rock near the entrance to the cave he'd used for shelter this time around. For clothing, he wore a baggy, short-sleeved, pale, button-up shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans, his feet covered with simple, flat running shoes in white. His hair was long, falling just past his waist in a high ponytail in the back and with shorter bangs in the front which fell only to about his chin. Golden eyes stared blankly across the landscape. His left hand was covered in brown scars which would easily be taken as burn scars to an untrained eye.

How many times had he done this?

When it had first begun, he remembered having felt a pulling sensation before everything went dark. He had woken in the same place he'd been taken from, but there was no hole in the ceiling, no array, and not even an indication of the facility being inhabited. Left with no other choice, no food, no PHS (he'd searched the facility thoroughly and found nothing, in fact), and no winter gear, he'd had to improvise to even just make it back to Icicle Inn. Then the Turks had come, and things had gone downhill fast. Apparently, no one knew him.

At first, he'd had no idea what was happening...but it hadn't taken long for him to realize he'd been sent back to his moment of arrival on the Planet, just in a different location, the one he'd been at the moment his vision had gone dark. He assumed that was also the moment Omega had left Gaia. It had taken him longer to realize some things had changed, more than just his being sent back in time. By the time he had realized it, things had gone much worse than the first time and he already didn't have any way to look into those changes.

Surely the changes were superficial, he'd thought.

He had never been so wrong in his life.

That time, at his moment of death, he had blacked out and woken later...back at the moment of his arrival on the Planet, but in the place where he'd died. More things had changed, while a few of the original changes had restored themselves to the way he'd first known them. At the moment of his death that time around (he'd had a very short life that time), he had blacked out and woken again to the date of his arrival on the Planet and to more changes. By then, he thought it was prudent to do some research into scientific topics he'd previously not bothered to touch, such as theories of galaxies, universes, dimensions, alternate planes of existence, and other similar things.

Galaxies were the easy part, as they were simply regions within a single universe. While some things differed merely by planet of origin, other things were fairly stable, such as most scientific laws.

Universes were more complex, being contained spaces themselves which ran alongside one another and normally didn't exchange anything between them, but were often very different from one another. Solar systems may exist in both, or only in one, or the same solar system may exist in a different location, and things like sentient races, vegetation, geographical functions, and even basic laws of science, often varied greatly. Sometimes, the only difference would be in a simple fact, such as Materia just not existing in one while they existed in another—which changed _a lot_ about the world.

Alternate planes of existence were about as complex as universes in a completely different way, because they existed within one universe but sharing the same space as it. One may have physical objects, another might be composed solely of energy, while a third may have spirits in place of physical beings, and all of them bled into one another to some degree. Interaction between them was often the source of legends and myths, and only some people could naturally see into any of those other planes.

Dimensions were the most complex, and generated the greatest number of difficulties. Dimensions were varying paths a single universe could take, originating from the origin of the universe and breaking off at every point where different options became available. For every option, a new dimension formed, and sometimes, dimensions even merged because their respective paths had led them, eventually, to the same result. Taking into account all of a universe and all of its alternate planes of existence, that made for _a lot_ of paths, but humans and other sentient races were the single largest generators of alternate dimensions in existence. There were very few instances where there was only one choice—in fact, there were always at least two unless the situation had entered limbo and no cause for a decision was even formulated until a path had been chosen.

Of course, pretty much all of that was theory and not widely known, as there was no real way to study those things. On the other hand, based on his personal experience, it was all more reality than theory. Dimensional theory especially.

By what he now knew, he had every reason to suspect he'd come from another universe linked to the Planet by the Alchemist's Gate, and now, he had begun jumping from one dimension to another. The shift happened at one of two times: either the world was destroyed or he died. When his reason for being moved to another dimension was because the Planet had been destroyed, he knew that path had no future, but if his reason for being moved was his own death, he had no idea how that affected the Planet, and it was possible they had survived.

It was entirely possible he had entered the dimensional cycle because he had never been part of the Planet's actual design in the _first_ place.

At first, he had stayed with the Turks—his family—or had tried to. That had been an abysmal failure and had resulted in some of the worst torture he'd experienced in his life, all of it at the hands of the people he'd loved like family. Every one of those had also ended in very short order with his death. As he had progressed through some like that, he'd begun to approach them more cautiously, but it had taken him several tries to wake up and realize that as far as they were concerned, he was an enemy if he wore their uniform when they didn't know him.

When he'd finally realized he couldn't be direct—that his family wasn't his family anymore—he had quit trying to go to them first. He had allowed the meetings to be chance, given them time to get to know him, but something had always come up which caused them to find out about something they didn't like. They had reacted poorly in those, but he'd only been physically harmed in two of them—mainly, they felt betrayed and...well, if he'd been a Turk by the time they found out, he'd been killed by them, quickly and cleanly. If he hadn't been one, they had cut all ties with him, refusing to associate with him. About half of those had ended with his death through various reasons, while the other half had ended with the destruction of the Planet.

From there, he'd tried other avenues for first contact—Wutai, AVALANCHE, Cosmo Canyon, Vincent, Genesis (or Sephiroth or Angeal), Aeris, Cloud, and so on. The results of those had ranged from death by experimentation a la Fuhito to being mistaken as a terrorist and being killed by someone in Shinra. Aeris and the people in Cosmo Canyon were usually the most accepting of his presence (Aeris especially), but even their support was—truncated.

Almost every time he had approached Aeris, however, Tseng had been the one to torture and kill him, rather than even _asking_ Aeris to explain the situation to him. He'd gathered Tseng and Aeris weren't nearly so close in some dimensions—sometimes even nearly strangers. In Cosmo Canyon, AVALANCHE would do that honor, usually by turning him over to Fuhito. Vincent had simply gone back to sleep most times, but in a few, he'd thrown him out and locked the doors.

In the process of dimension hopping, he'd somehow lost his prosthetic leg and now had a natural left leg which had wicked scarring just above the knee, scarring which matched the scarring across the right side of his chest and shoulder. He'd also lost every possession he'd ever owned—Libby, Heartseeker, and Storm Warning were the biggest losses; also, they were the first. The single most devastating loss had been Libby, though, as there had never been another of her in any other dimension, and it had taken realizing he'd truly lost her to make him also realize she'd effectively been another person to him, like a sister or something. In fact, the only thing he still had was the Materia he'd collected, and that by re-collecting it, not having kept the originals.

It had taken a lot to bring him to the final realization that he was probably never going to get back the life he'd lost. Rude, Balto, Tseng, Genesis—the ones he'd cared most about were never going to be his family again.

Oh, it wasn't that no good had come from his travels through multiple dimensions while trying to learn ways to protect himself.

He'd gained one of every Materia, he'd made some new ones, he knew every source of raw, liquid Mako, and his skills with alchemy and Materia had improved. Actually, more accurately, he was more full of natural Mako than SOLDIERs were of manufactured Mako, which allowed him to bypass the Reactors' restrictions on his alchemy. It had also resulted in him gaining a nearly God-like control of the arrays and Materia. More, he had gained the Cetra ability to hear the Lifestream babble and meander through his mind (1), and he was now very aware of what made Aeris the way she was—mildness was really the only way to deal with the voices the Lifestream carried.

Well, after probably over a hundred years of repeating the same space of time in different dimensions, his mind had aged, even if his body hadn't.

In fact, his skills were ones which could be explained by the same laws as alchemy, and relied heavily on the fact that he had so much Mako in his body, causing it to act as a general Philosopher's Stone—his blood had been replaced with natural Mako. With his ability to cast freely around Reactors, he didn't even need Materia, making the abilities literally look like a complete command of nature. It had taken a long time to develop those abilities, often having to experience death a hand-full of times before being able to make the links he needed to in order to arrive at a breakthrough.

However, despite all his new-found abilities, power, and strength, he was still human and still had a human body. It was possible to harm, capture, and kill him, and those things caused him as much pain as they ever had. The most recent incident had resulted in him having been tortured by the Turks again, for a longer time than usual. He had truly come to hate Tseng's involvement in his torture because he was the single most vicious and creative torturer in the group, but that time, the Wutain man had led the torture, not just 'participated'.

Over the many decades he'd been jumping from one dimension to another, he'd gone from determined and hopeful to cautious and suspicious to a complete basket case from the torture to outright fear of nearly everything, and even to debilitating depression. Finally, he'd reached acceptance of the fact that nothing was ever going to return to the way it was, or even to a state favorable to him. Compounding that was his awareness of every failed attempt to do anything at all for the Planet.

With his acceptance and the most recent round of torture, he had finally determined that the best and easiest thing for him to do with a world which didn't want him, which he no longer had any place in, was to resort to avoidance.

Even if he already knew doing so would result in the deaths and suffering of a lot of good people.

This time, he was just going to disappear and let them fix things themselves, hide away where they wouldn't know about him and would just leave him alone. There had been more than one time in the past where he'd appeared in a location he could have vanished from because the events which had led to his death hadn't happened yet—nothing was there to stop him from leaving. Before, he'd still been too hopeful he'd be able to change things for the better and get his family back, even if the dynamic would have been different. This time, with his acceptance of reality, it was easy to leave and find a place to hide. He hadn't even bothered to find out what had changed in this dimension.

Which brought him right back to the near-barren mountains where he'd made a home of a sort for himself in a cave not far from where he sat. His saving grace was his ability to use alchemy and Materia, but the river nearby was a point in favor of the location he'd chosen. Between his skills and the water, he could produce the food he needed, and he could still go hunting—he just tended to do so by using magic or alchemy rather than some sort of weapon. After all, staying hidden relied on leaving no evidence of one's presence, so he couldn't start leaving holes all over the mountainsides in the name of acquiring metals for weapons.

It was lonely, but loneliness was far preferable to the suffering he'd experienced in the other dimensions. If he had no choice but to go on living, at least if he could stay alive and the people of the Planet would keep it relatively in one piece, he'd probably be able to stop dimension hopping and—hopefully—just die and pass on in this dimension. 'Pass on' as in, actually being released from the cycle so he could finally truly rest. There was logic to the assumption, but he supposed there was also the chance that when he died of old age, he'd be sent back to his younger age in another dimension, as he had realized he 'wasn't aging' because his body, like the world, was being reset to the origin state of the cycle—his first arrival on it.

With a sigh, he thought about what he could see around him. For all intents and purposes, the world was just the same as always, and he was near enough to Nibelheim that he could probably go destroy Jenova and the labs...he just wouldn't wake Vincent up. He'd even be able to get in and out without anyone knowing he'd been there, though he'd end up trapping Vincent in the coffin room. Then again, the man was known to have no desire to move forward in most dimensions, so he could only assume it would suit him to stay locked in there forever.

Suddenly, two people entered the range of his senses, causing him to look up slowly in the direction they were approaching from. At first, he didn't see anything with his eyes—until two men in black suits approached from around an outcropping further down from where he sat, then stopped to stare at him for a moment. One of them he knew immediately as Tseng, black hair in a high ponytail, the stone on his forehead and all, but the other was a blond he didn't know, who looked to be around twenty-eight years old and whose weapon was currently hidden. The older Turk had paler skin and medium brown eyes, and the Wutain seemed to defer to the blond. (2)

He sighed as he saw them approach him in steady, determined strides. Even when he tried deliberate avoidance, it seemed he was fated (or required) to participate somewhat in the world's development regardless. But did it really have to be the Turks...Tseng...? Instinctively, he tensed, ready to bolt if they made a threatening motion.

When they stopped a respectable distance from him, the blond asked, "Who are you and why are you in this area?"

Shrugging, the sixteen-year-old blond answered, "I'm no one, and I'm here to avoid people. Normally, nobody ventures into this area, not even the people from Cosmo Canyon, so I thought it would be—not so busy."

"How many have you seen here?" Tseng asked with a small frown, stance tense.

"Just you two since I got here a few weeks ago," the younger blond answered.

"Two is 'busy'?" the nineteen-year-old Wutain blinked, gaze confused.

"Two is two too many. Could you hurry up and do what you came to do so you can leave me in peace and forget about me?"

The Turks traded looks, then the older one looked back to meet his golden eyes and said, "Maybe you can help speed the process along by answering a few questions and directing us to a place which may resemble what we're looking for. If you truly want us gone so quickly—that would be the best way to achieve the result, otherwise we're just wandering around blindly hoping we find something."

At the words, the younger blond's brow rose and he had to ask, "A Turk admitting they don't know something? Really?"

After the Turks traded looks again, the blond answered, "Yes, in this case we had very little information, but we still had to come with what little we had."

Sighing, the younger man said, "Fine, I'll do what I can to help. Ask away."

"Thank you," the older blond man said. "First, I'm Verde, and this is Tseng. You said you arrived here a few weeks ago. Did you see any signs of others having been here before you came?"

"No. That's why I picked this place. There were traces of people having been in the area probably decades ago, though," he answered, secretly pleased to know what the man's name was. He must have been one of the 'old hands' who had died before he'd joined in the first dimension—and in every other one after it.

Why was one of the old hands who had never been alive at this point in time suddenly alive in this dimension?

"Could you tell if they were campers or travelers, or if they had another purpose here?" Verde questioned with a puzzled frown.

"Probably another purpose, because some of the traces left indents of large storage containers."

"Energy storage or another substance?"

"Probably liquid."

Verde fell silent for a minute as he thought about the data, but Tseng chose the moment to ask, "Is there some hidden trick to getting food here that we don't know to have made it feasible for anyone to have stayed here for any length of time?"

"Not really. For someone who knows what they're doing, they can grow enough food for one virtually anywhere as long as they have water and there's no Reactor nearby. It's hard in this kind of environment, though, so most people never bother, even when they're used to growing and farming their food. It's for exactly that reason that I figured I'd be left alone out here. Instead—well..." the sixteen-year-old replied with a little shrug.

Tseng was about to respond when Verde asked, "Did you happen to find any unique features in the area—Mako springs, a small science facility, Materia caves?"

That produced a long, heavy sigh. "There's a cave with stagnant Mako not far from the marks in the ground."

"Could you show us where?" the older Turk asked, his expression satisfied like the cat that got the canary.

Nodding, the sixteen-year-old rose and led the way along the paths past his chosen residence to the cave near the top of the mountain where the stagnant Mako cave was. On the way, Tseng asked, "How do you know it's stagnant Mako?"

"Natural Mako resembles water with a bit of a glow. The stuff here looks like stagnant water with a bit of a dark glow, but the consistency was in accordance with Mako, just thicker. If it had been healthy water, that would have been ideal, but it's not, so I didn't stay and found another place closer to the river," the younger blond replied.

"You seem to know a lot about the topic for someone only about thirteen," Verde commented. "Where are you from?"

"Nowhere," the younger man snorted. If only his age reset didn't keep resetting him to the appearance of a 'buff' child...

"So you're no one from nowhere, but you somehow know advanced tracking skills and more about Mako than the average person knows, nor are, or were, you isolated from society to know about the Turks and the Reactors?" Tseng clarified, gaze and tone suspicious. "Try again, 'No One'."

"I'm serious—you can try to find me in any or all of your databases in every town or village on the Planet, and there won't be a record of me," the young blond answered.

The Turks traded looks again, that time very puzzled, before Verde asked, "Are you actually challenging us to try?"

"I guess that depends on you guys and how badly you want to know, because on my side, from where I'm standing, using that much of your resources on _me_ is a waste you could better put to use elsewhere—like actually stopping terrorists and things."

Tseng looked taken aback as Verde gave him a look and said, "Fine, for the moment, if you aren't willing to give us your name, we'll just call you 'No One'. How far is the cave from here, No One?"

The newly-dubbed No One gave a snort and said, "Up the path near the top of the mountain and behind the waterfall. We're almost there now."

"Verde, should I call in to Bloody Valentine yet?" Tseng asked after a pause.

"No, we'll wait until we've looked around at the cave," Verde answered. "There's no point in disrupting him with nothing after Verdot's last move in that bloody power play. He's still picking up the pieces."

"Bloody Valentine?" No One asked curiously, as it was another name—code name?—he didn't recognize. Also, who besides Tseng would be in a power play with Verdot—with Veld? Why was he being called Verdot instead of by his code name? And couldn't he just keep his nose out of things?

"The Turks are divided into two factions, ours led by Turk Director Vincent Valentine and the other one led by Turk Second Verdot Pereld. In an emergency where there's no option but to act, both factions will take orders from either leader, but outside something like an invasion or terrorist attack, those of us sworn to Vincent—or as we jokingly call him, Bloody Valentine—will only take mission orders from him, and the same is true of Verdot's. Within the department, our faction is called the Lady's Guards and Verdot's is called the Master's Hounds. I don't think the common civilian realizes there's a difference," Verde explained.

The new data left No One's mind reeling as he tried to assimilate just how different this dimension was compared to the previous ones he'd been in, and he had to ask what it all meant. Had Hojo not killed Vincent this time? Who was the Lady they meant? Why were there two factions in the Turks when they were supposed to live by the code that 'Turks are family' and they were to be loyal to one another _before_ to Shinra?

"Is that really something we should be sharing with a complete unknown?" Tseng asked with a glare.

"I thought the Turks lived by the motto that 'Turks are family', so why are there two factions?" No One thought he could risk asking before Verde was able to answer Tseng.

His question made both stop dead and stare at him with wide eyes for a minute. He stopped and turned back to face them, gaze worried now because he was sure he'd said something to earn himself torture or death, but then Verde sighed and kept walking, passing No One and following the trail up the path they had been on. No One turned to keep him in his gaze, only for a hand to rest firmly on his shoulder—he jumped and turned to look tensely at Tseng instead as he felt the weight.

"The Guards are a family and the Hounds are a family. When push comes to shove, we all watch one another's backs, but...Ever since the day the President tried to have his wife murdered—and Verdot made every attempt to carry out the order—we've been broken. We protect Lady Shinra because she's the one who gave misfits like us a home, but the President just wants obedience," Tseng said quietly. "I've never known anything but the split factions." His hand dropped and he began walking up the path behind Verde.

"I see..." No One murmured, quickly catching up to the two to take the lead again.

**Notes:**

Don't forget that every one of Ed's reactions are based in histories which most of the readers don't currently know, so there will be quite a bit of introspection at some points. I'll try not to post a chapter which is largely introspection alone, though!

(1) Think of the Lifestream as 'background noise' which is always technically present in Ed's mind, but which only interjects something when it (or she, as Minerva) needs to. If Ed focuses on it or asks it something, that will result in a 'discussion'—a very literal one if it's with Minerva, and something more like sensation, emotion, and general ideas if it's with the Lifestream in general. Most of what Ed just 'gets' from the Lifestream/Minerva will be fairly formless and more emotionally-based without his direct attempt at communication. No, I'm not going to interject things from the Lifestream/Minerva unless they're actually RELEVANT to the situation, so assume he always has irrelevant background noise in his head, and no peace and quiet anymore.

(2) This is one of the OC Turks I mentioned. I won't provide further details here.


	2. 02-Taking the First Step

Taking the First Step

About fifteen feet below the ledge outside the stagnant Mako cave, the path split into one staying at the level they were on which bypassed the cave and another which climbed fairly steeply up to the cave ledge. For someone who didn't know there were two paths, they would easily take the lower one and miss the mark completely, so No One getting back to his position as a guide was a good thing. Especially when they were only about a dozen feet from the split by the time he caught up to Verde. Both Turks had to stop and stare at him in amazement for a moment as he turned off onto the path leading up, but quickly followed him up the steep incline to the ledge outside the cave, where the waterfall fell just to the side.

The Lifestream was nervous about him being there. Or about the Turks being there. He ignored it in favor of hopefully getting them to leave quicker.

Leading the way into the cave, No One stopped at the edge of the pool, which was a couple yards from the entrance to the cavern. It was a single, large chamber with rough walls, many pillars past the pool which were in an inaccessible area, and a stone, dish-like device in the middle of the pool. The liquid in the pool did indeed resemble stagnant water which seemed to create a dark light along its surface, and the Mako crystals in the cavern created a brighter, blue-white counter-light. Those very large, mainly shades of green and blue, crystals surrounded the pool and grew from the pillars around the cavern.

The Turks first stopped at the entrance to the cavern, but after a minute, they moved forward and began examining the room in detail. Verde crouched at the edge of the pool with a thoughtful expression on his face. As he reached out a hand to the stagnant Mako, however, No One jumped forward and seized his wrist, making the older blond stare up at him in shock.

"Why did you stop me?" Verde asked with a sudden frown.

"Are you stupid? Can you touch raw manufactured Mako, let alone the natural stuff, without getting a case of Mako poisoning?" No One retorted with a glare, still gripping his wrist. "I'm pretty sure by your motion just now that you intended to plunge your hand right into the stuff, which is a no-go if you value your life—or at least your hand." He let the older's wrist go as the man stared at him with wide eyes and pale skin, then Verde slowly relaxed his hand back to his side.

Tseng, at a particularly large Mako crystal off to the side of the room, had turned to face them with a startled expression, then asked, "Is that to say stagnant Mako creates Makonoids with ease unprecedented by either other form of Mako?"

Knowing that 'Makonoid' was the name given to people and monsters mutated by exposure to Mako, No One shrugged and said, "Stagnant Mako is the opposite of normal Mako—it creates mutations before it gives you Mako poisoning, and only someone who no longer has blood for it to affect can touch it—somewhat—safely."

"...Who no longer has blood without being dead?" Verde asked, rising suddenly as his sharp gaze traveled over No One's body—and focused on his left, scarred hand.

"There are ways," No One answered evenly.

"Cite one," the older blond said in a soft tone, a tone which was oddly cold and warm at the same time.

"Why don't you ask some of your own scientists. I'm sure they'd have a few—!" No One began, then cut himself off with a sharp indrawn breath at the pain in his arm just above the wrist. A look down showed that Tseng had somehow crossed the room without him noticing and had dragged a dagger blade across the inside of his arm.

All three of them watched in stunned surprise as a single drop of a clear liquid dripped from the cut before it sealed to a point of scabbing, then kept watching it as it closed over and became a scar, then finally vanished altogether. In less than a minute.

Slowly, No One lifted his arm and covered the spot where the cut had been with his other hand for a moment, his expression dazed—but then his eyes widened and he went into full panic mode. The Turks saw the raw fear in his eyes as he bolted from the cave with the intent to find a place to hide—without showing the full extent of his abilities.

He knew—_he knew—_they would torture him if they caught him!

And he _knew_ it would be worse if they knew what kind of power he really had.

Just like every time before.

But panic meant running blindly, and on rugged mountain paths, that made a misstep all too easy, and the smallest stumble on a loose stone was his undoing as he felt a weight collide with his back, shoving him to the ground on his belly and pinning him down.

He was reminded of a tiger going for the kill, and passed out from the burst of extreme panic which came with the sensation of 'tiger-in-kill-mode' so close to his vital organs.

FoWD

Gradually, he returned to consciousness, feeling a warm body holding him half-way upright against it while something which was salty and very strong in a bad way was being held close to his nose. The hold on him was gentle, his position as comfortable as it could be on hard, rocky ground, and hands seemed to be...checking him for injuries? The smell of the salty-like stuff (smelling salts, he was vaguely aware) was really getting to him, though, so he struggled to lift a hand and shove the source of the smell away from him before drawing in a few deep breaths of fresh air.

Hadn't he been caught by the Turks after they had figured out too much about him?

Or had it been someone else?

Which was actually the better option?

Opening his eyes fearfully, he saw Tseng holding him and Verde leaning over him on the other side, both looking worried.

So it was the Turks. That meant their brand of torture. His eyes filled momentarily with tears and resignation before he shut them—and let his body completely relax, head sagging back loosely, waiting for the first blow.

"Well, at least we don't have to guess about most of your life's experiences anymore," Verde said quietly with a small sigh. "Experimentation, torture—you're showing all the signs we know of people who suffered through extensive forms of both. It would also explain why there's no record of you anywhere, and why you wanted to become so isolated in the first place. I never realized natural Mako infusions don't make a person's eyes glow or bulk up their bodies with muscle, but I'm also pretty sure you're the only one of your kind, too—no one has ever done such a thing before. Where did you get the scars on your left hand, right shoulder, and left leg from? (1)"

The younger blond flinched violently and murmured, "The hand was—from being exposed to stagnant Mako before I was—modified. The other two...At one point, I had cybernetic limbs. I don't remember how they returned to normal outside the scaring from the fixtures, there were so many experiments." Well, he knew damned well how he'd gotten his flesh arm back, but he wasn't about to tell _them_ that. And he legitimately had no idea how he'd gotten his leg back, though he thought that had to do with Fuhito.

"Is that an effect of natural Mako in the quantity you have it?"

"No."

"...Why do you think we're going to hurt you?"

"Because everyone always does as soon as they find out—about this, or anything _else_ about me."

A hand touched his cheek gently and a soft, somehow compelling voice ordered, "Look at me," as the hand tipped his head in the desired direction _gently_. Slowly, No One's eyes opened and gold met warm, medium brown as Verde peered at him without malice. "You haven't done or said anything to make us think you need to be hurt. In fact, it's the exact opposite, and I'm seeing a wounded child crying out desperately for help. I know it will be hard, but please let us help you, protect you."

Tears filled his eyes again, but like the time before, they didn't fall. "No one has ever made good on that oath to help me, to protect me. They swore they were my friends, they'd never hurt me—and they became my torturers."

Why was it so easy to talk with Verde? Because he had never been present to have tortured him before? If it had been Tseng his attention was focused on, he was pretty sure he'd have been close to catatonic, but as things stood, his position didn't allow him to see Tseng's face while Verde was his focus.

Verde lifted his PHS to his ear and asked, "Did you hear that, Lady Shinra?" The younger blond's eyes widened in the onset of another panic attack, but a soft murmur and fingers rubbing gentle circles on his forehead calmed him soon after (had he known Tseng could do that?)—in time to hear Verde say to the person on the other end of his call, "I'll let you speak with him, then."

The PHS was offered to No One, who tentatively, shakily, took the oh-so-familiar device and carefully raised it to his ear. "Hello?" he almost whispered into it.

"Hello, young man," a woman's voice returned to him, the tone firm and strong, but somehow gentle at the same time. "Verde tells me you've refused to give a name, otherwise I would call you by it. I heard your discussion with him, as I'm sure you know. Now, listen to me very carefully, young man. I won't ask you to trust me, and I won't tell you something as foolish as that you'll be completely safe in my care. The first is something only time can prove to you, and as for the second—as long as we're caught in this power struggle, there's always the chance of anyone under my care being threatened or harmed by my husband's supporters. That's the reality of our situation."

She paused for a moment, then went on, "What I _will_ do is offer you a home, food, clothing, even education and entertainment, while you get to know us and are able to decide for yourself if we're worthy of your trust. We're going to keep you as safe as we can while you work that out. None of mine will hurt you because most of them know from experience what you've been through, including Tseng and Verde. Well, maybe not to the same extreme, but they definitely have personal experience in the matter. As such, I've instructed my two boys out there to escort you safely back here with any personal possessions you may have. I'll be seeing you when you arrive."

No One had squeezed his eyes shut as she'd spoken, but somehow, her direct honesty touched his heart and made him think of something long-forgotten—a woman with black hair who had called herself a housewife. Really? It had been _so long_ since he'd thought of Amestris, of his brother, of Teacher...And now, this woman was reminding him of Teacher, of Izumi Curtis. Could he risk this? Could he actually come to trust them...and would they _earn_ it in return? It sounded like, for some reason, there were a lot of new people in the picture influencing things this time...Was it enough?

He was silent for a minute after she had finished speaking before finally deciding it was something he'd have to do either way—Verde especially didn't seem inclined to let him just stay by himself. "All right," he finally said softly with a small sigh, not even realizing he was trembling slightly.

"Good," the woman answered, a warm smile in her voice. "Hand the phone back to Verde, then, and you take care of yourself on the way home."

At the last few words, No One's eyes widened and he slowly moved to hand the PHS back to Verde, his mind almost shut down with what she had said. 'Lady Shinra' had just effectively told him that his place was there, and she was absolutely certain he would realize it, too. In her mind...he was already part of her family? Who was she, really? Was she really the same woman who had died long before his time in the previous dimensions? If she was—how had she died in the _first_ place? Or did that have something to do with Vincent being alive, not—one and the same as Chaos? Wait, did a person even _have_ to be dead to host Chaos?

Verde took the PHS from his almost limp hand and returned it to his ear to ask, "So, I take it that went well?" After a pause, he gave a small smile and answered, "That's fine. It'll still probably take the rest of the day for us to get back, though, so would you like another update in the meantime?" There was another pause before he said, "I'll do that, then." He hung up after a pause and put the device away, looking back at No One to ask, "Think you can get up?"

No One's eyes met the older blond's again for a minute before he slowly nodded and started to push himself up, only to find both Verde and Tseng helping him to stand. "She said to take care of myself on the way 'home'..." he muttered, still dazed by the words she had spoken to him.

"Isn't it?" Verde asked, making the younger blond look at him in confusion.

"You're going to be staying with us, making it your home," Tseng said, and No One's eyes went to him instead, still equally perplexed.

"But a place to stay isn't the same thing as a 'home'," the younger man said softly. "A house, an apartment, a trailer, a mansion, a _shanty shack_—those are all 'places to stay'. A _home_ is—a place you belong, where you're comfortable and welcome and safe and—I haven't had one in—"

Both Turks looked amused as Verde said, "But we _are_ welcoming you into our home—your mind and emotions just need to catch up with that fact."

"Do you have any possessions here you want to collect before we leave?" Tseng asked while No One was still trying to wrap his mind around the older blond's words.

Pausing to think about what he had in his cave-residence, the younger blond debated just leaving his collection there—until a helicopter passed by overhead, very low and with the Shinra logo on the side. He felt the Lifestream become worried, and it transmitted to him the need to _hide_, to not let the people in the chopper see him. The side door opened as it was passing to show—Alvis? Yes, the Turk standing at the door was Alvis, and he was gazing intently down at them and their surroundings. Finally, a few moments later, it flew away, circling in an attempt to find somewhere to set down.

"I'm suddenly glad we destroyed the cave at Doctor Crescent's request..." Tseng said quietly in the silence left behind as the chopper disappeared out of range.

"I'm more glad they won't find anyplace to land closer than four hours of walking over nearly impassable land to get to this area," Verde answered tensely. "I didn't think they were tracking us so closely to be right on our heels like this."

"What do you mean?" No One asked in surprise.

"That was one of the Hounds," Verde answered.

At the words, No One tensed and said, "In that case, there's something I have to take with me, because I _really_ wouldn't want it fall into a tyrant's hands."

He pushed away from the two of them and began jogging back towards his cave-residence, near where the pair had first found him. They followed him closely, stopping just inside the entrance to his cave to stare around in surprise, even as the younger blond gathered a few leather items—and a fairly large basket which was made of branches, bark, leather, and stiffened hide. The leather items were fur-lined and in the form of a pair of black and white boots and a black, white, and brown, long winter coat. The pockets of the coat bulged, probably with fur gloves. They had no idea what was in the basket, but somehow, they felt the younger blond knew enough about his own possessions to know when something was dangerous.

What really caught their interest, however, was the fact that the cave-residence wasn't just a fire pit and some sort of bundle of furs for sleeping. The floor had been smoothed and the walls rounded in dome-like shapes which created a unique pattern while smoothing them, as well. In the back of the cave was a stone bed frame piled high with fur and leather—though it looked like it still had too much substance for that to be everything there. To the left of the entrance was what looked like a counter with a pair of deep, stone basins, and there were even stone plates and bowls on a stone shelf above the counter. To the right of the entrance, where most of the light shone in, there was a small, wooden table and a matching chair with a somehow thickened leather—pad? Cushion?—as its seat. Of course, there was also a fire pit closer to the counter-and-basin side of the room, and it had a stone casing around it including a stone pipe leading to the ceiling to vent the smoke—like a wood stove.

Verde moved over to rest a hand on the seat of the chair, then stared in surprise for a moment before going to the bed to do the same. Turning, he asked No One as the younger blond made the leather items into a bundle, "What's in your—chair cushion and bed mattress?"

"Feathers. Griffin feathers, mostly," No One replied. "Leather bags work as well as cloth ones, but they exchange softness for durability. That is, they last longer, but to fill them properly, you have to stuff them full, so they end up being stiffer."

"Well, no one can say you aren't industrious," Tseng commented dryly. "Did you really only do all of this in a few weeks, or did you find it like this?"

"I did it. One of the side effects of being pumped so full of natural Mako is the ability to manipulate one's environment. It has costs in materials—I patterned the wall and smoothed the floor by using what I took out of those spaces to make the stone items I wanted," No One answered as he hefted the basket onto his back, the other leather items bundled onto the lid of the basket.

"So what's in the basket that's so dangerous?" the Wutain asked.

No One paused beside the stove uncertainly, then answered, "Let's just say it's a powerful arsenal and get out of here."

Both Turks eyed him, then Verde nodded and said, "Yes, it's probably for the best if we have as much of a head start as possible. Let's head for our helicopter, then."

"Where did you leave it?" No One asked as the three stepped outside.

"Almost straight south, on the other side of the rapids," Tseng told him, leading the way towards the natural bridge over the river rapids.

"East of Cosmo Canyon?" the younger blond asked, following Tseng.

"That's more-or-less right," Verde agreed, falling in just behind him.

No One was quiet for a few minutes while they walked, thinking hard about what he remembered of the area. Finally, he said, "Once we cross the river, I can cut down the time it'll take to get to the place I'm pretty sure you'd have left it."

"How do you cut down a three-hour-ish mess of jungle travel?" the Wutain asked irritably.

The tone made No One flinch, a motion Verde saw and said in amusement, "Tseng hates the moist heat of jungles, and the walk is pretty much murder for him. Thinking about it is enough to—irritate him."

Had any of the previous Tsengs he'd known ever had issues with jungle climates? He couldn't remember, but he didn't think any had. Or they'd hid it very well.

"That's true," the Wutain admitted from ahead of them, still sounding irritated.

"...Then shouldn't you be quite eager to cut your time in the jungle down to a little over an hour?" No One asked tentatively.

Tseng froze, then spun to face him, asking urgently and hopefully, "You can do that, without over-straining me to the point of exhaustion?"

"...Remember how well-hidden the path to the stagnant Mako cave was?" he asked the nineteen-year-old as both blonds also stopped. Tseng gave a nod and a puzzled frown. "There are really only two paths up from the nearest jungle clearing where you could have landed, but one of them looks like it disappears part-way up from that side and is nearly invisible from the start from this side. If you know where to find it, that path is actually both shorter and less strenuous to travel, covering about the same distance as the three-hour one in about an hour and fifteen minutes, give or take a bit. A large section of the path even runs beside a clean, freshwater creek to cool the area and provide water."

"Oh, that sounds very nice—a break from the heat," Verde smiled. "Lead the way, then."

"Yes, please do!" Tseng agreed. "If you're as good as your word, that will help a great deal, and may even be enjoyable."

With both of their agreement, No One took the lead again and led them across the narrow, stone bridge across the rapids, noting how it was likely going to give out soon. On the other side, he turned away from the more obvious path to follow what looked like nothing at first, until it became essentially a narrow game trail. Within fifteen minutes of walking down an incline with hand and footholds in easy reach the whole way, they descended into the jungle heat, and about five minutes later, near the edge of the tree line, they found the promised creek. It flowed fairly quickly alongside them, and there was a definite cool zone around it, which included the trail they were following.

For another forty-five minutes or so, they followed the creek, and stopped for a drink when the trail and creek began to diverge. A few minutes later, they could see the clearing where they had left the chopper, and another fifteen minutes had taken them right to the path they had figured disappeared not far from the meadow. Rather than starting to the southwest of the meadow and meandering north, the path No One had led them on came almost directly from the north on a varied slope which always had available footing. Of course, along the way, the afternoon clouds came in, helping to cool the last of the walk, too.

It didn't take long for them to reach the helicopter and open it up, but they had to wait a little to air it out—black metal sitting in the sun all day was a heat trap, and all three were very thankful for the quick route out of the mountain. The two hours they'd cut off the trek could now be used to air the hold and cockpit, and they were glad it had gotten cloudy and begun to rain. No One again showed his knowledge when he told them to wet pale colored blankets and hang them in the doorways, then use a couple fans, even just small ones, to create a breeze.

Within half an hour, between the cooler temperatures with the rain and No One's trick to cool the space, they were able to leave, Tseng flying the helicopter and Verde and No One sitting in the back.

**Notes:**

(1) No, they didn't take off his clothes. Scars like that (think of how massive the one from Ed's shoulder port was at the end of FMA:B) would have been felt through his clothing by someone looking for injuries.


	3. 03-Lady Shinra

**A/N:** Obviously, this is just my take on who and what Lady Shinra is, since she's a complete blank in the Compilation of FFVII. This assumes she had once been a powerful and skilled woman who was injured, and as a result, her actual power was reduced. The backstory for her and her injury should come up at some point during the story line, so I won't give it here.

Lady Shinra

It was dusk when they got back to Midgar—the sight of that monolithic city never seemed to change—landing on the landing pad of the Shinra building and heading inside, Verde in the lead and Tseng beside the younger blond. As they were crossing the pad, Balto stepped out of the building and made his way to the helicopter next to theirs, followed quickly by Reno, both of whom were exactly like he remembered them. No One cringed as the pair stopped to stare at him, Verde, and Tseng with something like hostility and suspicion. Well, Reno was actually smirking in a hostile way, but Balto...

"Who's your friend? A new recruit?" Balto called across the distance.

"A guest of the Lady's," Verde replied evenly, not stopping. "From there, we shall see. Tell Alvis and his pilot 'thank you' for being so obvious earlier, would you?"

Reno snorted and gave a laugh as he headed for the chopper, but Balto's glare became vicious as he said, "Oh, I'll be sure to bring him up to speed on his lack of subtlety when he gets back."

A moment later, Verde led the way inside and the door closed behind the three, prompting No One to ask, "What was _that_ all about?"

"More Hounds," Tseng answered softly. "It's best if the senior Turks play word games with them, so just make sure you stay quiet in any confrontations as long as someone like Verde is around. We'll let you know who qualifies amongst the Guards soon."

"And what if there aren't any senior Turks around?" the younger blond asked apprehensively.

"Then you do the best you can to say as little as you can until you can get away from them," Verde answered, opening the door to the stairwell. "Follow me."

He led the way up to the sixty-ninth floor and to a large, side office No One recognized as the Vice President's office. The room was full of a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces, mostly of Turks. Front and center, sitting behind the office desk, was a red-blond woman with deep blue eyes and her hair falling freely around her to mid-back. In many ways, she reminded him of General Armstrong. Beside her to one side was—Lucrecia Crescent, wearing a doctor's white coat, and to the other side stood—Rufus Shinra, but dressed in a white suit which was an identical mirror to the Turks' uniforms, not a parody of them. Not far from Rufus stood Lazard, who also looked the same as always, but colder and stronger.

Other than them, everyone else in the room were Turks. One thirty-five-ish man who sat on the edge of the desk had graying, black hair in a ponytail at the back of his head looked a lot like the Vincent he'd known, only older. Of the others he recognized, there were Kariya, Rude, Illis, Ruluf, and—Freyra! The other six Turks were ones who, like Verde, he didn't recognize. Their attention was all focused on him, mainly with curiosity, but for the first time in a long time, he felt no real sense of hostility, though the Lifestream still seemed to be warning him of caution.

"Welcome," the woman behind the desk said as she rose and picked up a cane from the edge of her chair. She leaned some of her weight on it as she made her way over to him, where she stopped to examine him from about two feet away. At that point, he could see she wore a pant suit in medium blue with a red shirt. "I'm Janelle Shinra, Vice President of the Shinra Electric Power Company and President Marius Shinra's wife. I've asked these people to be here because you need to know who to go to if you need help, and they need to know what you look like so they can keep an eye out to keep you safe. First and foremost is Doctor Lucrecia Crescent, who will be your doctor."

The brown haired woman moved up beside Lady Shinra with a smile and said, "That's certainly true—you're going to need a check-up, and it'll have to be done at my private office if we don't want word to get out about any of your issues." Her eyes were a hazel color and she looked to be maybe in her mid-thirties, a beautiful woman who had a certain degree of confidence which wasn't overpowering or intimidating. The skirt and dress shirt she wore under her doctor's coat were both blues, the skirt multicolored and asymmetrical and the shirt a single, medium blue.

Slowly, he nodded, which just produced a small smile from the woman. Janelle looked a little amused before she said, "We'll work out the details shortly. Now, Vincent Valentine and Lazard Deusericus are the Directors of the Turks and SOLDIER respectively—later on, Lazard will be able to introduce you to the SOLDIERs he trusts." With the words, she motioned at the dark haired man sitting on the edge of the desk and the older blond by the window. No One already knew who Lazard was, but he'd never met this version of Vincent with looks like he currently had. It was disorienting to see his skin with some color in it and his eyes normal crimson instead of glowing red.

At his nod to the two men, who responded in kind, the Vice President of Shinra said, "Rufus Shinra is supposed to become the next President, but with the way my husband is behaving lately, it doesn't seem he'll so much as acknowledge Rufus' presence any time soon. Then again, he's furious with me for having my son fully trained as a Turk and giving him executive power akin to mine." She paused and faced Rufus to say, "I just wish you would wear your _proper_ uniform..."

"Mother..." Rufus huffed, running a hand through his blond hair to make it look not-quite-slicked back—natural, styled, and different from when No One had known him before. "We've been through this—it's better if it just looks like I got dragged in and reacted." His suit, while somewhat similar to the one No One had seen him wear before, was cut and fitted the way a Turk uniform was, but with white pants, jacket, and tie with a black dress shirt. It was worn properly, and his shoes were black rather than brown—then again, a glance at the feet of all the Turks present showed black shoes except Kariya's and one other man's white ones. No One wasn't sure what Rufus' weapon was, but he probably had more than one on him, and at least one was probably a gun.

"But—" Janelle began.

"Lady Shinra, we've discussed this before. He dresses the way he does to make sure only select employees realize he's a registered Turk, not just being guarded by us," Vincent said in mild amusement. His gaze moved to No One as the woman sighed, and the man told him, "What that means is very simply this: if Rufus is the nearest one to you and you're in trouble, go to him, because he'll react like any other trained Turk, including the authority and authorization to do so."

Slowly, No One nodded again and murmured, "I'll keep that in mind." At the same time, he thought about how it was _far more_ likely he'd have to _run from_ the Turks than go to them for protection, but...maybe it would be worth letting them do it for awhile? He was sure Verde and Tseng knew he could protect himself, and had probably told the others they were pretty sure he could do for himself. That being the case, why _were_ they all so determined to protect him?

Then he remembered how they had baited Fuhito and the trust he'd had to put in his fellow Turks to rescue and protect him. Of course, with him, nothing ever went as planned, and they had never gotten a chance to rescue him. Was that what they were trying to do now, use a form of that same technique to help him learn to trust them? The idea admittedly had merit, but whether it would work was debatable.

Janelle turned back to No One and said, "Fine, that means the rest of the Turks are next. These are the ones I know I can trust, the ones who _will_ protect you, from the longest-running to the newest hires. Meet Eonna, Terri, Lenno, Donnel, Viney, Rude, Ansha, Kariya, Illis, Ruluf, and Freyra. The last two were just hired last month."

Examining each as the woman said their names, No One found himself both somewhat surprised and somewhat impressed by the group. And there were so many more of them he had to get to know—would that make things better or worse when the shit hit the fan?

Eonna was a thirty-one-year-old woman with dark brown hair in a ponytail and hazel eyes, her skin tone slightly dark, and a black, round-necked shirt under her black suit jacket. Terri's most obvious feature was the whip anyone could see at his hip in brown leather, but he was about the same age as Eonna and had hazel eyes with short, plain brown hair while he wore his uniform without a tie and the top couple shirt buttons open. In that regard, he reminded No One of Ruluf. Except that he also wore a brown fedora.

In contrast to them, Lenno and Donnel both had reds in their hair, Lenno's long and in a loose ponytail with bangs in a medium auburn and Donnel's a shoulder-length straight cut with bangs in a red-blond color. The older of the two, Lenno, had light brown eyes, was about the same age as Verde, and carried a katana with his uniform worn properly other than the soft, white shoes he wore. Donnel was about twenty-five and had red eyes, his weapons were the black gloves on his hands, and he wore the uniform with the jacket open, the tie a little loose, and the top shirt button open.

Viney and Ansha both had very dark hair, Viney's a dark brown-black falling around his head with a sprinkling of short bangs and two longer locks to either side of his face while Ansha's was dusty black and flyaway, falling down her back to the waist in a series of blond-highlighted veritable spikes. Ansha was the older of the two at about twenty-four while Viney was twenty-one, and both wore their uniforms properly, the former with black fist weapons and the latter with a rapier in dark metal. Viney was also very pale-skinned and had green eyes while Ansha had lightly tanned skin and a somewhat Wutain look with deep, cobalt blue eyes.

After those six, it was just bald Rude, orange haired Kariya, black haired Illis and Ruluf, and light brown haired Freyra, the ones he already knew.

Lady Shinra interrupted his thoughts to say, "Now, because you haven't given us anything to call you by and I'm not fond of calling someone 'No One', I've chosen a name for us to call you by. From this point forward, unless you give us your real name, or at least a proper name to call you by, you'll be known as Auryn Rune (1)."

He couldn't help it, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock as he stared at her. After a long minute of silence while everyone just looked at him curiously, he closed his mouth and swallowed, then asked, "Did you really—just do that? Did you really _have_ to do that?"

Janelle crossed her arms over her chest, showing that she was capable of holding herself up without the cane—at least for a short time. "Yes, I _did_ just do that, and yes, I _had_ to. If you're going to be staying here, you need a name, and if you won't give or choose your own—I decided to do it for you. Unless you care to pick one for yourself, that's the one you're going to use. If you want to give us your real name or pick something you like better, you'd better give it now."

Opening his mouth to say something, anything, against the name, he suddenly found he couldn't say anything. His mouth closed again for a minute before he slowly shook his head and said, "It's...I guess...Auryn Rune works..."

Lady Shinra smiled and put her arms back down, putting her weight back on the cane with a small grimace. Her smile returned right away as she said, "Good. That means the first and most important parts are done, and we'll be able to make sure you have a home and your first visit with Lucrecia."

"If I may—it would be best to keep him close to the Turks for the time being," Vincent said. "While it isn't unusual for us to bring in strays—on either side—Auryn isn't fit for an actual 'job' at this point, and the Hounds will be at his throat if we don't keep him close. I'd offer SOLDIER, but his presence there would be even more unusual and harder to explain, and there would be the same power tug-of-war on that side. I don't relish the thought of leaving him on his own in the city with his—_wild_ nature being what it is currently, either, not with Heidegger letting the Infantry get away with abusing their power and harming civilians in the process."

The woman nodded and said, "That's certainly logical, but the Turk floors don't have any with two bedrooms and him having a room by himself would give Verdot free access to him."

"Actually, there's a hidden room attached to mine," Kariya commented, making the others turn to stare at him in confusion and surprise.

"What do you mean, a 'hidden room'?" Lady Shinra asked with a frown.

"I don't know the details, but from my bedroom, it goes to the bedroom in the next apartment," Kariya explained. "But when I checked the next apartment, there was no door leading to the hall, so the space is completely its own entity, just one that can only be accessed from inside my apartment. By what I found over there, it was like someone's hidden S & M playroom, but I cleaned all that up and have been using the storage room to work on my bombs. The rest of the apartment is fit to be lived in."

"And...who's in the next apartment over on the other side?" Vincent asked. "Ansha, was it?"

"Yes," the black haired woman agreed. "Are you planning to have me put in a similar door, and will that work?"

The Director of the Turks gave a nod as he looked off into the distance for a minute, then said, "The apartments are designed opposite one another alternating down the hall. That would mean yours and Kariya's have the same layout and the one in the middle has the opposite layout, so if I'm right, your living rooms would be backed against one another. I want Auryn protected when he's resting, not trapped, so having a door to both rooms would be useful. Can I leave the details to you, Ansha?"

"Of course," she agreed.

"In the meantime, what kind of furniture is available there, Kariya?" Vincent asked the orange haired man.

"It's got a full set, just needs some airing," the man replied easily.

"A full set of _what_ if you said it was used for S & M?" the older Turk asked in mild amusement.

Kariya pulled his cigarette from his mouth to blow a smoke ring before saying, "They left the original living room set, so I checked it and it's in good shape—almost wasn't used, that I can tell. The kitchen table is a heavier metal one that's a rectangular four-seater, but the top of the table and the chair seats are wood. Those are also in good shape, and the floor under the table feet is more damaged than the table itself. The bedding they'd had was a nice design but smelled like—well, the usual smells S & M produces, so I tossed those and got fresh ones from the store, just so that smell wasn't permeating the place while I was working. I did the same with any other linens which had a smell, but anything that didn't, I just gave a wash and kept. The floors I cleaned thoroughly, but those weren't as big a mess as I'd have thought they would be—the room's occupant—or occupants—cleaned up after themselves or took precautions against messes."

"Sounds reasonable," Vincent nodded. "It'll do until Auryn is less likely to have a panic attack like he did on the mountain. Until Ansha's door is done and ready for use, he'll have to make do with yours—in other words, use some discretion, Kariya." The older man looked amused as he said the words.

With a dismissing motion, the orange haired Turk said, "I'll head out to open up the windows and change sheets and stuff if they need it." Pushing away from the wall he stood against, the man headed for the door—but paused suddenly when he saw a defeated look on Auryn's face. He wasn't far from where the boy stood, so moved over to him and used the hand not holding his cigarette to tilt the boy's head up by the chin. When the golden eyes met his green behind his sunglasses, he said, "Do you actually realize what it means for Turks to have Executive Access to the building?"

"What?" the blond asked in confusion.

"Verdot and a few of his Turks have ID cards which let them open _any_ door in the building. We're trying to keep the Hounds away from you, keep you as safe as we can, but until you have your head on straight, that means they can't have an open door right to you. If we gave you one of our normal rooms, they'd be able to walk in at any time—we have enough trouble with them doing that as it is without tempting them with _your_ presence. The sooner you get your head on straight, the sooner we can let you wander around on your own and have a room they _could_ just walk into—then, you'll be able to handle things yourself. So, for now, no one can have access to you without going through _us_, first. Simple."

Auryn eyed the older man for a long minute before saying quietly, "I don't really have a choice, anyway, but thank you."

The man sighed and slipped his hand up to ruffle Auryn's hair, then headed out as he called back, "See you soon, then."

It was then that Auryn noticed the expressions on the others' faces, mostly expressions of worry and confusion—but Donnel had an understanding expression instead. Apparently, Lady Shinra noticed it as well, and asked, "You know where that response came from, Donnel?"

"Mm," the man agreed, meeting Auryn's gaze the whole time. "It's a trait typical of someone so used to obeying orders that—even if they _could_ have chosen something else, their mind just won't grasp other options. I did it with everything when I first joined, and sometimes still do it. Even if he _could_ have interrupted to request something, with the plans being made as they were, it wouldn't have occurred to him to ask."

"You're saying he spent time as a slave on top of it all?" Doctor Crescent asked, brow furrowed slightly in a small frown.

"Maybe not," Donnel replied. "There are other ways to break a person, or to train them to obedience. Hojo does it all the time, mainly by using pain—if a patient or test subject of his is cooperative, he ends up causing them less pain than if they aren't, which ingrains obedience into them by default, in an attempt to minimize the pain. And I sincerely doubt Hojo is the _only_ sadistic scientist out there."

"Thank you for the insight, Donnel," Lady Shinra nodded to the young man, who replied with a nod of his own. "And for the reminder that Verdot will probably get all this from you later, whether you care to tell him about it or not." She paused and tapped one finger on her cane absently while she pondered something. Finally, she gave a small, sad smile and said, "As much as I don't like using this method, least of all on you—this time, I'm going to. Donnel, there is one thing I order you to simply not mention to Verdot when he orders you to tell him what you know. That one thing is what you know about the state of his body—of his blood. Verdot would be far too suspicious if you _didn't_ inform him of general data, such as his having been used in experiments, but any knowledge of the details—_you don't know them_."

Auryn watched in alarm as Donnel's eyes blanked for a moment as he recited like a puppet, "As you wish, Lady Shinra. I know no details of Auryn's physical state." When his eyes cleared, he turned pale and his shoulders hunched.

Eonna, beside him, reached out to grip his shoulder, asking, "Feeling all right?" A shake of the head was Donnel's answer, so she said, "Come on, let's you and me go find a place to relax while you calm down." She then guided him from the room, giving a pale Auryn a small, reassuring smile as she did.

Verde rested his hand on Auryn's shoulder and said quietly, "Every so often, this happens. At the moment, it can't be avoided, so—this is also part of why we need to keep you away from the Hounds, because they're very good at pressuring people for information they don't want to give them. You would be—compelled to give it to them, probably even without word games, given your responses to Tseng and myself. Lady Shinra doesn't often give Donnel orders, but Verdot...It happens fairly frequently, no matter how hard we try to keep Donnel away from them."

After a small nod from Auryn, the blond teen looked up at Lady Shinra—and was surprised to see sorrow in her eyes. "So...When do I have to—get that medical exam done?" he asked quietly.

The older woman turned to face him, saying, "Preferably tonight. You won't have the complete results for a couple days, but we'll at least have some basics by the time you're done this evening—your dietary needs, for example. Most of both the Guards and the Hounds are here now, so having you at Lucrecia's office for most of what's left of the day is also a good thing. Verde and Freyra can escort you both to her office in the city and back here. And, for the moment, we're done here. Go get your tests done so you can get a meal and some rest when you get back."

At the older woman's words, most of the Turks began filing out, a grinning Freyra and calm Verde leading Auryn and the lady Doctor out and to the elevator. It had been awhile since the last time he'd seen the view of Midgar from the glass elevator running up the side of the building. The result was that his reaction mirrored the one he'd had the first time he'd seen it—there was always a certain amount of awe in seeing the view from such a height. In the reflections on the glass, he saw the other three trade smiles, but had no idea why they were.

**Notes:**

(1) No, this name isn't actually random. Auryn Rune translates to 'golden secret', which is currently rather descriptive of him from Lady Shinra's perspective.


	4. 04-Questions and Clues

Questions and Clues

In many of the previous dimensions he had visited, Auryn had met Lucrecia, normally at the stagnant Mako cave where she had crystallized herself, but had never known her well or known her without a burden of guilt. In some, she had died or been killed, though in most of those dimensions, he had never actually known her fate, just that she hadn't been present for him to meet. Of the five where he'd learned her fate, she had died in one, and in the other four, she had been killed—quite a feat for someone infused with Jenova's cells. In a few, she had been out and about and he had either never met her or—well, in one, she had tried to kill him.

By default, when he'd found the stagnant Mako cave this time and not seen her, that left her being dead or her being at large in the world. He had never imagined meeting her or knowing what she was like as a healthy person or a doctor. How had things gone so differently, and what did this difference mean for people like Genesis and Sephiroth? While he wanted to know, he also realized saying anything was going to get him into trouble—big trouble—so he couldn't ask, and he couldn't let them know about Genesis' degradation. But it was still amazing how both she and Vincent looked much younger than they were (they were both, like Hojo, about fifty years old) without looking the general ages he'd previously seen them look.

She was in the middle of running the required tests on him while he sat on the examiner's table in a normal doctor's office, a towel over his lap but otherwise nude, when she asked suddenly, "Is there something you want to ask me, Auryn?"

They liked to say his new name a lot. Trying to get him used to it?

Rather than asking what was foremost on his mind—her actual age versus her looks—he asked, "Why are you being gentle?"

With a blink, she looked up at him for a moment before going back to what she was doing. "Most doctors who care about their patients won't cause any unnecessary pain."

"How do you define 'unnecessary' pain?"

His sharp retort made her gaze turn sad as she answered, "If I had to remove your tooth because it was rotting, I would give you an anesthetic or a very strong painkiller before doing so. If there was nothing I could do but that tooth was killing you, I would pull it out regardless, as quickly as I could, and try to find something to numb the resulting pain. Some things, like cybernetic implants, require the patient to be conscious or they won't function, but most medical issues don't require any such thing, so there's no reason you should have to suffer through them. If something has to be done, I'll make sure pain isn't part of it if at all possible."

Auryn's gaze went to the scarring above his knee, but as he thought of something else he wanted to ask, a knock came on the door and it opened a crack for a familiar voice to ask, "Mom, are you going to be home this evening?" Was that...Sephiroth?

"Yes, once I finish with this exam. How many times do I have to tell you not to interrupt me when I'm literally with a patient?" she returned, attention still on what she was doing with her tests on Auryn.

"Will you be long? I need to know, because I have a mission," the man outside the door said. Auryn was sure it was his voice, but he seemed...more lively, more emotional, more expressive, than he had been in any previous dimension. And that wasn't including the ones where he had become 'the Nightmare' and gone on a killing spree.

A frown creased her brow as she looked up for a moment, asking, "What kind of mission to where?" She then returned immediately to the tests.

"Monster slaying at Bone Village," Sephiroth answered. "It might extend up to Icicle Inn depending on what caused the spike in monster activity."

The woman made a noise in the back of her throat before saying, "I'll probably still be about half an hour. When do you leave?"

"Two hours."

"Go get us some take-out and bring it back here so we can eat together before you go. With one of Lady Shinra's new youngsters, I can't reschedule this appointment."

"For Lady Shinra?" the man asked, curiosity evident in his voice. "Fine, I'll be back soon with some grub." With that, the door closed.

Lucrecia looked happier than she had before, and Auryn had to comment in mild amusement, "I thought for sure he would ask more about me."

"He was tempted to, but he knows the two of you will meet later," the Doctor replied with a smile. "And even at twenty, he _still_ doesn't have any respect for my patients."

"...Isn't that because you let him get away with it?" the sixteen-year-old asked curiously, wondering if the question would be overstepping.

Rather than anger, she chuckled. "I suppose I do, don't I? I'm grateful he and I are still so close after he joined SOLDIER and pretty much moved out of my home."

"...Did you raise him by yourself?"

"No. Vincent was there the whole time, he just didn't literally live with us. Even after I showed him proof Sephiroth was his and he lets Sephiroth call him 'Dad', he knew his priority had to be to protect Lady Shinra, not play house with us."

"...Why is that?"

"Without her, Sephiroth will end up in Professor Hojo's care, and—he isn't a nice man. You asked me why I was being gentle...Hojo would just do to you what your previous captors had done, though I'm not entirely certain as to his actual stance on his sadistic tendencies. Regardless, Lady Shinra is the only thing standing between all of us and a much worse fate."

The words caused Auryn to fall silent as he thought about what Tseng had told him had happened when Veld—who was using his birth name for some reason—had been given the order to kill Lady Shinra. Was that woman really such a pivotal player in the scenario, and Vincent with her? It seemed such was the case by what he was seeing in the vast changes this dimension had. Just to start was the number of Turks who were still alive after over ten years of service, the 'old hands' as they were called, Lady Shinra's presence itself, Lucrecia's, and all of the changes in Rufus and Sephiroth...

Wait, didn't that make _Vincent_ the most pivotal player in the events taking place?

Was that always where he had gone wrong in the previous dimensions—in not trying harder to push him to act? Was it that he should have gone to Vincent first in every one of them once he'd stopped approaching the Turks?

Of course, that also led him to the question of the naming systems the Turks were using, because in the previous dimensions, they had _all_ used code names, even Veld, who was being openly called Verdot in this one. And Vincent had no code name, either, and while he understood Rufus not having one—why did all the other Turks if both of their commanders felt safe enough using their own names?

Suddenly, as the doctor was finishing up her notes, he asked, "Have you ever heard the name Veld?"

She looked up at him in surprise, then shook her head as she said, "No, I'm afraid not. Is he—or she—a friend or family member of yours?"

"No, nothing like that," Auryn replied quickly, looking down with a slight flinch.

"Fine," the woman agreed genially, keeping her expression even. "You've managed to keep yourself quite healthy physically, if nothing else, but I've noticed something in your blood—er, well, what passes for your blood—which I think needs to be addressed. Because your body is running on liquid Mako, it's artificially enhancing you and compensating for some vitamin and mineral deficiencies, so you probably don't even realize you have them, and one of the big things is actually that your trace metal and mineral count is low. I suspect the liquid Mako is the reason, as it continually flushes your system of those sorts of nutrients.

"Now, what that means is that you'll never get heavy metal poisoning, but to compensate, your intake count of those same metals and minerals has to be higher than average. I'll need a few days to order the supplements you'll need, and while it won't do you much harm to miss them at times, you also can't afford to miss them daily. My plan is to give you a working quantity you can take once daily—preferably before bed—and which will give you enough resources to keep you functional if you need to miss days for some reason—without relying on the Mako in your body to do it. I'll see you in two weeks from the time I hand you the supplement to make sure I have the right amount to compensate for your automatic flush. Otherwise, as long as you're eating nutritionally balanced meals, you'll be fine, and you're even free to eat sweets whenever you like, just like anyone else."

At that point, the woman paused and tapped her pen on the papers she had in front of her, then said, "Despite the healing the Mako in your body gives you, there are traces all over your body of wounds, both battle and torture, and several strong indications of experiments done to you." Her eyes met his shocked ones as she noted his horrified expression, so she went on, "Auryn, I can't reverse what's been done, but you've said yourself you don't know it all, either—and there are two things done to you which I can already see and you need to know about. There will be more once I've had time to go over all the results. What I need from you is to know if you want me to tell you what I know right now, or to wait until our next meeting, when I have all the results."

Auryn looked away, honestly frightened of what she would find, and what she—and the Lady and the Turks—would think about the final results. It wasn't like he had much choice, was it? He wasn't even sure he wanted to _know_ the results, and he was pretty sure way more had been done to him than he could imagine. Though, he had the question of why she could find so many of his injuries, when technically—none of them had happened yet. In a way, it was the same with the experiments, too, but those had somehow always crossed over if they had a strong enough effect—but injuries from things like torture...He'd thought those all vanished, as he never had visible wounds when he woke up in another new dimension.

How could she find _physical_ signs of torture when none of those had come from—his former home, from Amestris?

Finally, he asked, "How long will it be until you have all the results?"

"I anticipate a week, so I'll see you eight days from tomorrow, earlier in the day than it ended up being this time," she replied with a faint smile.

With a small nod then a sigh, he said, "Then please wait until then."

"Of course," she agreed, then rose. "In that case, we're done tonight, and you can head to your new room to settle in and get some rest. When you're finished dressing, join us in the front office." With that, she left the room, and he was left to his own devices.

It didn't take him long to get dressed, recover his basket to settle it on his back, and step quietly out into the main office, where Verde and Freyra were standing with the doctor as she wrote on a card which sat on top of some kind of scheduling book. As she finished writing, the two Turks saw him and smiled, beckoning him over so he could see the appointment slip which showed his next appointment with the woman. It turned out to be the same card she had been writing on. With the time and date of their next meeting established, the Turks led him back out to the car they'd used to get there, and they were back at the Shinra building soon after.

They met Kariya on floor fifty-seven, where the majority of the Turks' rooms were, and Verde and Freyra split off from Auryn and Kariya at their apartments along the hall. Kariya led the way into his apartment, but rather than leading the blond over to the next 'apartment' right away, he motioned the teen at his couch and headed over to his fridge to pull two cans out. One was a beer, which he kept, but the other was a carbonated drink Auryn recognized—that one was offered to him once he'd tentatively sat down on the end of the couch, where he could tuck himself into the corner between the arm and the back, his basket beside him.

Before, he had never seen Kariya's living space, and found it strangely soothing with a theme of largely blue and green. The matching couch, loveseat, and chairs were cloth in green with many small, horizontal lines of many colors blended cleverly into the base color to be both an offset to and simply another 'part' of it. Wood borders on the front ends of the arms matched the medium brown wood grain of the coffee table, and the cushions and tablecloth were blue with only some trim in mixed green and brown. The kitchen table was an ashen colored wood with four seats in a similar color, but the seat-cushions and place mats were a deep burgundy. On his walls were mainly scenes of forests or oceans, but the area of each was obviously different—from forests near Junon to jungles near Gongaga to a strip of shallows on the Wutain coast to the roiling, icy flows of the ocean around the Northern Continent.

Kariya sat in the chair next to where he'd chosen to sit, slipped off his sunglasses to drop them on the coffee table, and popped open his beer to take a long drink from the can. As he lowered it, he released a grateful sigh, then settled the can on his thigh and looked at Auryn—only to see he hadn't even opened the pop can yet because he was too busy staring at the man whose green eyes were now visible to him. His lips quirked upward and he asked in amusement, "Like what you see?"

He'd been expecting embarrassment from the blond, regardless of the history he'd come out of, but instead, Auryn just blinked, then said, "Not really. I'm just surprised you're..." He paused as he tried to figure out what he was trying to say, then went on carefully, "Letting me in. I mean—you don't seem to take your sunglasses off much when others are around, but you're doing so easily around me."

The older man tipped his head to the side to ponder the words before asking, "Do you always assume that the way a person looks when you first meet them is the way they _always_ look?"

Auryn's lips quirked faintly before he shook his head and said, "Not always. Just most of the time. But people don't normally wear sunglasses indoors unless that's habitual, and it's usually to keep people from—seeing _them_. It's to keep people out, to keep them at arm's length. You taking them off means you're not keeping _me_ at arm's length, even though you _should_ be because I'm a stranger."

It actually surprised Kariya to hear an assessment like that, but he couldn't deny there was truth to it. While it hadn't actually been a conscious decision, he _had_ been opening up to the younger blond he was now effectively responsible for when the boy was the most vulnerable. And yes, regardless of the blond's actual age, he _did_ only look about thirteen at the moment, so he _was_ seeing him as 'a boy'. He was also sure Auryn wasn't only thirteen, on that same token, so his sudden urge to be 'parental' was somewhat surprising to him. Or maybe not, after recent events...

"Maybe you don't realize this, Auryn, but with your bedroom attached to mine, we're going to be seeing a whole lot of one another, and I'm going to be your primary escort out while everyone's schedules are being sorted for you," Kariya told him directly. "It goes without saying. You're my responsibility, and I'm old enough to be your father, so I have that—built-in desire to keep you safe and as happy as I can. I doubt you'll be very happy having a complete stranger have free access to your room, especially when you have nowhere else to go to escape. You'll feel safer if you realize I'm _not_ trying to set up walls between us."

The words seemed to unsettle the boy, not so much by scaring him as by confusing him, and Kariya watched the play of emotions cross Auryn's eyes with sorrow. After a moment, it seemed the blond realized how openly expressive he was being and shut it down, like shutters being pulled closed over his eyes. When the emotion vanished, Kariya took a sip of his drink and reached into his pocket for a smoke, which he quickly pulled free and lit.

"Do you have kids?" Auryn asked quietly as the older man was drawing in a breath from the cigarette. Regardless of what he _could_ say, or not, maybe he could hint at certain things just enough to make him think?

Blowing the smoke out in a shape which resembled a bird, the man said, "I'd had a son once, but he died young. I also have two daughters, who both lived with their mother until recently. My work hasn't given me much time or opportunity to spend with them safely, so I just watch them from a distance, mostly. Well, now that their mother is dead and the Lady is protecting them, I get to see them more often. It was one of the most shocking moments of my life when I realized just who I was looking at when they were brought back safely."

"...Your kids are here, but you'd rather play father to me?"

With the lack of emotion in Auryn's voice, most anyone else would probably have faltered, but Kariya just gave a shrug. "They don't know me, or me them, any more than you and I know one another. I go visit with them pretty often—almost daily, ranging from one to five hours—but we're still in the tentative 'get-to-know-you' stage. I don't plan on stopping that, but regardless of my relationship with them, I have to go through the same process with you as well, now. After all, we're going to be spending quite a bit of time together."

"You could just send me over to my 'apartment' and tell me to stay there from the time we come back here at night until we leave again in the morning."

"I could, except I'm not here to be your jailor, and treating you that way leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth. Maybe you're used to having restricted space, being locked up, but that's not how people in the world at large live. You're not my prisoner, and you're not my punching bag."

Auryn shook his head slowly, then said, voice still flat and emotionless, "It would be a lot easier than what you're trying to do." How had the man managed to divert the discussion away from his kids so easily?

"Easy, huh?" Kariya asked thoughtfully, leaning back in his seat and tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. He then chuckled and answered, "If I wasn't so social a person, maybe it would be. As things stand, having someone to talk with regularly is _a lot_ easier for me to deal with than to just ignore said company. And I'm not one to take prisoners. That's more effort than I care to deal with because it means forcibly keeping them restrained, feeding them, cleaning them, whatever. Not for me."

To his surprise, the words actually drew a small chuckle from the boy. Maybe the boy wasn't as bad-off as they'd all thought, if he was capable of an expression of real amusement like that? He kept fluctuating, though, going right to the very worst edge of the scale (or nearly) to something in the middle and back again—but this was an action outside that usual range of fluctuation. If anything, he seemed stuck in a permanent state of both wanting to trust them and a desperate fear of them.

Kariya began to think there was something odd in the mix of the two, especially when he thought back to his first meeting with the boy in Lady Shinra's office—and he could have sworn Auryn _recognized_ half the people in the room. Some were literally strangers to him, and he had reacted to them completely like strangers, such as Lady Shinra, Lenno, Ansha, Donnel, and a few others. He'd had a half-way reaction between recognition and not with the Director and Doctor, and something like a distorted recognition of Rufus and Lazard. Ones like him, Rude, Freyra, Ruluf, however...He had _recognized_ them.

Storing that little detail away for later, he turned his attention back to Auryn as the boy answered softly, "I guess that's a factor, too."

"Of course it is. Different people have different definitions of what's 'easy' and what's not, mostly stemming from their personal preferences. I find digging in the dirt to grow a garden the hardest thing on the Planet, mainly only because I hate doing it, but there are a couple of Turks who pretty much grow all their cooking herbs and some of their veggies and fruits in their rooms and on their balconies. They swear it's the easiest thing in the world, and the only real reason is because they _like_ doing it." When the blond gave a small nod, Kariya asked, "Any other questions?"

After a pause, Auryn asked a question which made the orange haired man suddenly very aware of how much the boy was paying attention to, "Why is it your—Director and his Second both seem to be using their own names while all the other Turks are...I guess using code names?" When the older man's eyes widened, the boy said, "I mean, I know why in—Rufus Shinra's case, he's just using his own name, but maybe he has a code name as well? I'm just wondering why there's a difference."

With a nod and a wry grin, the older man said, "Vincent and Verdot have been Turks from the start—they were amongst the founders—so literally everyone already knows all about them. There's no point in them trying to hide themselves, and it wouldn't work, anyway. There was a span around twenty years ago when a bunch of Turks died or vanished, though, so the two of them felt it was best to minimize the damages by coming up with code names for newcomers. Deaths have been kept to a minimum since then, also partly because all requests of Turks need to be approved by Lady Shinra, and that's true for both the Guards and the Hounds."

"Couldn't someone just walk up to a Hound—or even a Guard—and hand them the mission without it going through her?" Auryn asked shrewdly, and Kariya had to commend his astuteness.

"They could. A few slip by her on _both_ sides, actually, but those are then at Vincent's and Verdot's discretion, and they at least made an agreement not to send their people on missions they know they have no chance of accomplishing with negligible gain. If we get one without the Lady's signature, it has to come from Vincent or Verdot directly, and those tend to be more dangerous by nature, but with proper planning, we're fine. The thing is that even Verdot found he didn't want to needlessly risk his people, so agreed to mainly go through the Lady for that."

"...I see..."


	5. 05-Assessing

**A/N:** There's a lot of pretty important data in this chapter, but it's also entirely Auryn's introspection, so I'm giving you a double post today.

For anyone who's wondering, no, Ed won't be keeping the name Auryn—he's only using it until he gets his head back on straight enough to use his own name again. And because he is who he is, that's going to have to happen sooner rather than later.

Assessing

Auryn was standing on his balcony and staring off into the distance across the wastes and plains east of the city. He couldn't see as far as Kalm—and actually, because it was night, he could barely see beyond the edge of the city Plate thanks to the hanging, green smog and neon lights. There were no stars visible, regardless of how high up above the neon lights he was, but the city provided more than enough to look at, assuming he was inclined to do so. At the moment, however, he wasn't really looking at anything in particular, mainly just gathering his thoughts.

After their discussion, Kariya had begun cooking a meal, and Auryn was surprised by the man's skill at it—he could have been a chef if he hadn't picked the path of explosives. This was his first time finding out the man could cook, much like earlier in the day had been his first time finding out Tseng could sooth agitated emotions...Though the latter had a basis in the fact that he had apparently gotten Dark Nation for Rufus in most previous dimensions. It seemed he was actually learning more about 'his family' now than he had ever known before.

The meal had led to the older man showing him the bedroom and the bookshelf disguising the door into the next apartment, which wasn't nearly so well-hidden on the side Auryn would be using. Kariya's bedroom was mainly shades of blues, and he actually kept quite a number of books in the room—all the free wall space was covered in books on different topics all across the board. When the boy expressed a desire to borrow his books, Kariya told him he could choose some to take with him any time he was going in or out, as long as he told the man what it was so he knew where to find it again if he wanted to reference something.

Auryn's bedroom, on the other hand, seemed more decorative in a Wutain style—Tseng may have preferred plain colors (that had been true in any dimension where he'd seen the man's room), but the person who had used _this_ room liked imagery. The blanket was the biggest indication of that, given how it portrayed Leviathan in blue on a red background with waves in blue and white and some Wutain characters in gold. The red was similar to a wine color rather than bright, but most of the blanket was in blues because of Leviathan being front and center. The sheets were green and blue, toning down the red and gold. There were also Wutain tapestries on the walls, and Auryn found the one of the tiger in the bamboo forest eerily lifelike, but beautiful nonetheless.

The rest of the apartment had been like the orange haired man described, with the standard gray living room furniture and the modified kitchen table and chairs, which had a darker wood grain than Kariya's coffee table. On the walls were sceneries and more Wutain scrolls, the former with a much larger variety of terrain than Kariya had in his room. After Auryn had checked the kitchen table and chairs, the older man had shown him a supply of drinks and snacks he'd gathered for the boy, some healthy and some not. They then went to the storage room, where Kariya was still going to work on his bombs because Auryn was only going to be there for a short time, but he'd cleared a section of the shelf space along one wall for the boy to use if he ended up needing it.

Finally, the man had left him to get some sleep, and Auryn had put his basket in the closet in his room before he wandered out onto the balcony, staring down at the city as he thought.

For the first time, he had tried—by choice, not insanity—to avoid everyone, to just...stay out of things. He had suffered enough at his so-called family's hands, and had truly just wanted nothing more to do with society, with saving the world, with anything. Yet, the very time he chose to just not involve himself, _they_ found _him_, and didn't _allow_ him to stay off on his own once he'd been found. This had also been the best introduction to them he'd had since his first one, and all the best reactions to him he'd gotten. If they _really_ thought there was nothing strange about him, he'd eat his shoes, because he was _sure_ his reactions had been unusual enough to warrant them looking further into them.

Kariya in particular had seemed to notice something off with him, though he hadn't said anything or started treating him any differently. Normally, the reaction was one of hostility or suspicion, not an even and calm response which hadn't changed a thing in the way he was being treated. All of them had to have noticed things which didn't fit in their current theory of him having been an experimental test subject whose keepers had frequently resorted to torture on him. Not that they weren't right, but...there was a lot more to it than that.

Frankly, as things stood, he actually fit the bill for someone from Deepground, someone like Weiss or Shelke. Though, if Kariya was meeting with Shelke and Shalua, she had never ended up in Deepground, which was already a point in favor of saving the world without his help. If that was the case, why was he there? Why this dimension? Or was it really just because no one wanted to take the step of killing the President, Heidegger, and the other corrupt Shinra executives? Well, and Fuhito, who had also been ape-shit insane in every dimension to date, and he didn't think it would be different here, just like Heidegger and the President had never changed. In a couple, Hojo or Scarlet (or both in one, but that hadn't gone in his favor in the end) had been nicer or saner or both, so there may have been hope for them...

Was his best bet for integration really avoidance? In the first one, he hadn't had any notions about his situation, who was who, or what he should be doing—his only real goal when he'd met Freyra was to get to a library to figure out where he was so he could get home, then to learn about his enforced new home. This time, his goal had been to avoid and ignore it all. Both results had led to him meeting the people he most needed to in a way which favored him, while every other one, he had _planned_ to meet people he needed to work with, and every one of those had been unfavorable. Granted, some were more than others, but even the best ones had been far more painful than his first attempt, and they had all ended with the same result as the first one—Omega leaving, with or without people. Assuming Omega was _capable_ of leaving by then.

In the end, he now had a list of three things which would potentially help the situation, and none were ones he could have really known until he'd done one of them because he just couldn't handle another round of torture.

Avoidance. If they found him, they found him, but his best bet was at least to try to stay out of things and either avoid society entirely—or maybe just integrate himself as a normal person. After all, the 'scholar' Edward Elric who had proven also skilled at combat had strongly attracted the Turks to the point where they let him get away with things he should never have gotten away with, so reverting to his studies or being a bounty hunter or mercenary had potential.

Finding Vincent Valentine. That was harder, because the man was famous for moping, and he wasn't sure what about his first meeting with the man was so different from successive ones. Thinking back to his first meeting, when he'd opened the coffin out of morbid curiosity without knowing anything about the—

Wait, _that_ was the missing link!

In the first one, he hadn't known who or what Vincent was, he had just found him, then ignored him in favor of the books and research notes in Shinra Manor. He hadn't even asked the man's name that time. In the older man's worry for him, he'd dragged himself out of his moping, sleeping stupor and made open contact with him. In all the successive ones, he'd addressed him as himself, gone there just to find him and try to push him into getting involved in the world again. To get Vincent's support, he had to let the man be the one to initiate involvement with him, not try to force it beyond opening the damned coffin!

That resolved, he could turn his attention to the third point of how he needed to do things—not fixing problems too fast. His habit was to make changes very rapidly, but people used to power didn't take well to those changes and retaliated often forcefully enough to cause Omega to form and leave the Planet. He could kill the current key players only to have them replaced by others of the same kind, and while the shifts had been made to better people in the first dimension, it hadn't been done in a way or time which prevented the complete destruction of—well, the Planet. There were safeguards no one but President Shinra knew about—and there was a good chance those were already in place because of the power struggle between himself and Lady Shinra. They needed to have more time to set things like new power supplies in motion before doing more combat-related things.

Even if he had some sort of working plan, it all depended on his knowledge and how he could pass it on to the people who needed it without them thinking he was off his rocker. In previous dimensions, he had always known where all the data was and what it held. This time, so much had changed—in all honesty, could he even be sure things had gone the same way and the data was in the same place? Was there even data _to find_? With Lucrecia and Vincent having raised Sephiroth, would she have the Project S notes, or would they be in Shinra Manor still, or would Hojo have the notes with him? What about the Project G notes he'd used to inform Genesis of his problem and how Sephiroth's blood could save him? Of course, there was a good chance Genesis wouldn't believe him if he tried to tell him this time around, and how would he explain where he'd gotten the knowledge if the notes _weren't_ in Shinra Manor?

Sighing heavily, Auryn turned to go back inside, going to his bedroom—the extra door still made him do a double-take—to pull the bundle of leathers off his make-shift basket. Opening the basket, he gazed at the Materia in it, wondering what he should do with _them_. There was a good chance people would eventually find them, and many of his Materia had no record of having ever existed anywhere on Gaia.

They were his single greatest accomplishment—every aspect of them and what he'd learned about them over his time dimension hopping had led him to a point of true mastery of them and their abilities, even their formation. It had taken a lot of work to learn the energy flows of the Lifestream so well, and he'd lost many previous Materia, in the process. In a way, he was thankful his blood had been replaced with natural Mako as early as it had been—Fuhito had done it in the first dimension he'd ended up in the man's hands to be experimented on. Though, that had been the third 'other dimension' he'd landed in.

When he crossed over, things he was actively wearing or holding crossed over with him—bracers, Materia, weapons, flowers, clothes, ropes. Something just draped over him, like a sheet, wouldn't, which had led to more than one awkward situation when he'd appeared nude, bound, and gagged, though without injuries as the transfer always negated those. He was still confused about what transferred and what didn't, because he should technically be reverting to the form he had originally appeared in, from his personal possessions to his injuries and state—or lack thereof.

The only possible explanation he could think of was that, because it was all variants of the same Minerva, she held the 'memory' of each dimension he had passed through and its fate. Because she held the memory, injuries she could make vanish, but to her, all of those things _had happened_ and couldn't be undone once done. That was also how what he had on him at the moment he was transferred went with him—her memory of his last state in one dimension was what locked in her mind as she moved him, so with the lock, nothing about him besides his age reversion changed from the last 'memory' to the next.

However, over the time he'd had to research the Materia, he began to find there were—other uses for the 'memory inheritance' Minerva had, and one of those 'memories' allowed him to either take the Materia with him or reform them in the new dimension. The first time he'd done it had been accidental—he had _really needed_ Phoenix, so had called it to him, and the Materia had appeared in his hand. It hadn't just been _any_ Materia, but a duplicate of one he'd found in a dimension he knew had ended without anyone going along with Omega. In other words, it was one who knew him, and it was one which technically no longer existed with the loss of the Planet.

With that clue, he had realized any Materia which had existed in previous dimensions he had been in, he could re-create with his own hands by accessing the Lifestream flows—alkahestry—and directing it to reform the Materia he wanted. He could even re-form them at any level of their development they had been in when they were in the previous dimension—new baby Materia or Mastered. In the latter case, if it hadn't Mastered, he couldn't form it in a Mastered state, but he could form it at the point of development where he'd lost it. It was also possible to just tug the actual Materia to him in its literal original form, rather than duplicating it. Both methods meant none of the originals of the dimension he was in had to be found or moved so others would be able to find and use those. Of course, some Materia (like Zirconaide), didn't transfer.

For already-existing Materia, that worked great, but ones which hadn't existed were more difficult. His being infused with natural Mako essentially gave him a link to the Lifestream no matter where he was, and reaching into that Lifestream energy allowed him to create a new series of arrays to imprint into the energy. When he did that and it was true to Minerva's terms (generally, that meant he had to have the sub-arrays which would prevent misuse), she would allow him to gather energy around the arrays and solidify it to form a new Materia. The new Materia shard appeared in his hands as a baby which could be built up and multiplied, and in a few dimensions, some of the natural Mako Springs had produced at least one of his new creations. Those Materia had then begun to be generated in natural Mako Springs in other, successive dimensions, but were easily as rare as Ultima and the rarest Summons.

What most made this collection his pride and joy was how he'd ensured it would follow him without him having to repeatedly re-create them—it took a lot of his energy to do that, so he had decided he needed a less draining way to keep them.

In the Lifestream was a core focus of energy. There was always a core, though it may move depending on what Minerva was trying to fix at any given time, and its form was stable. The energy of the core was also one and the same as the source of energy for everything else in the world, so it had an actual array coding as well, a very extensive one easily a thousand times more complex than Zirconaide's. By adding a few sub-arrays to the core and a few corresponding ones to his personal Materia, he could send those Materia to the core like some kind of safe, then pull them back out again.

One of his biggest supports to the idea of Minerva having an over-arching memory of all dimensions was the very fact that he was able to retrieve his Materia from the _same_ core in different dimensions. The act of sending them to the core and retrieving them from it took far less energy, but it wasn't something he cared to use a lot because it also—caused fluctuations in the flow of the Lifestream. Aeris would notice one fluctuation, or two of them, without thinking anything of it, but if it began to happen too often, she would start seeking out the source.

As a result, he had perfected the method of just pulling them all out at once, then when he was about to die, shoving them all back into the core. In his current collection, he had pretty much everything he had ever found or created—ones like Aerial Attack and Carbuncle, Summons as powerful as Knights of the Round, his Fusion Materia, new ones he'd since created. He could have written a book over a thousand pages long on all the Materia, what they did, how they had come to exist, and the processes and scientific calculations involved. (1)

And all his work towards manipulating the Materia as he wished had given him all the key requirements to manipulating the natural world. The Summons found his skills highly amusing, because with his new bond with the Lifestream, while he was officially a Sentinel, he actually fit all the requirements of a Healer and a Terraformer (an exceptionally rare skill set of the Cetra) as well. Even a pure-blooded Cetra would have been unlikely to have had the degree of power, skill, and knowledge he did, even the ones who had lived thousands of years ago—and they had been more powerful than more recent generations.

Of course, they also hadn't had equivalent to over a hundred years of not actually aging to study and develop skills, nor were most born as a literal genius.

There were drawbacks to all of it, and one of those was integration into society—normal Cetra were able to, but one like him had a hard time not alienating people. It had taken him a long time to start holding his tongue and limiting what he said at any one time so he didn't cause himself more problems. His temper had been forcibly mellowed by the torture he'd suffered—temper had always made it worse, and most of the people who had tortured him wouldn't get angry enough to kill him, they'd get angry enough to keep him alive even longer, just to see him suffer more. With his temper mellowed, he'd encountered the situation of not knowing if he _should_ just say something at a particular time—he'd started keeping too many things too close to himself, mainly from not knowing what he should say or when. That led to loss of data and communication. There were other problems—like his fear—he had to deal with as well.

Even though he came across as so powerful, there were things he still couldn't protect himself from. Getting hit over the back of the head would still knock him out, it just wouldn't keep him out as long and there wouldn't be a wound by the time he woke. He could still be tied up, and if there was an application of some sort of spell to binds, he'd have a damned hard time getting free. Spells could still affect him for a time, such as Sleepel or Bio spells—Silence was actually one of the most detrimental, because it prevented him from using arrays, let alone casting anything.

Additionally, while man-made drugs had next to no effect on him anymore, a natural poison or drug would still have a strong effect and last for a fair time, though it wouldn't be fatal—the time he'd been given a large dose of nightshade had been the single most painful incident. Other drugs had been far worse in other ways, but for sheer pain factor over the length of time it lasted for, nightshade was one of the worst. After all, even just a small quantity of it would usually kill a grown man or woman.

Once subdued, anyone could cause him pain, plenty of it, and his body would heal so fast it wasn't likely standard (or even extreme) torture would kill him—they had to specifically take a killing step, like beheading him, to see that he died.

It should have been impossible to capture him because he could Teleport at will to any place he wanted to go to—but even that ability wasn't omnipotent, and if some part of another person was 'inside' his body somehow, they would be Teleported with him. It could have been something as benign as someone trying to pull one of his loose teeth (though he never got those anymore), or something as violent as a sexual assault, but the effect was the same—the person went with him. The other complication was if a physical object was in him, as something like a knife stuck in his hand would go with him—but a pole attached to the ground and stabbed through his side meant he couldn't Teleport _at all_.

Just touching him didn't move another person unless he specified in the casting for it to do so, at least. Though his most frequent reason for being caught was, just simply, that it was someone he trusted enough to get so close to him, then his mind needed to catch up with the betrayal. Being in extreme pain also made it hard to get free once captured...

Of course, he'd also learned not to tell people his weaknesses, enemies or allies, to just let them figure it out themselves, because that made it harder for them to figure out _how_ to capture and keep him. Just like he'd learned not to tell them other things. Again, a lesson he'd learned _too_ well and now didn't tell them things he should be because he couldn't tell them apart anymore...

Sighing, he closed the lid of the basket and thought hard about where he could put it to make it unlikely anyone would find his Materia collection unless he showed it to them. Oddly, the best place was probably in one of the kitchen cupboards under the counter, which would give the impression it was something like cleaning supplies. Especially if he put it near the sink. Valuable things didn't get put in places like that, but it's not like the moisture would damage the Materia and the basket wasn't all that important. As such, he moved it to its new location, then returned to the bedroom.

What Kariya had said this room had been used for was a little creepy, but he had found out in more than one dimension that the S & M—or BDSM—Lifestyle wasn't as simple as sadism and masochism, it was a multitude of other things, and the Lifestyle actually didn't even have to include the 'pain' parts at all. If these were duplicates of the original items which had been in the hidden room, it had been designed to be a decent living space. The apartment having no outside door made it more like a prison, so had it been used just by one person, or by many? More importantly, had the people who had stayed there been 'prisoners' by choice or by force? By how well it was hidden, it likely hadn't been done legally, which pointed to it probably not having been willing.

But at the same time, this room's existence meant he now had a hiding place which would force unsavory people to go through someone else to reach him.

On that same token, however, his current 'allies' and protectors could use the same fact to harm him with no one the wiser.

Then again, Kariya had never harmed him in any of the previous dimensions, and he'd never known Ansha at all, as she'd always been dead. He'd met Sirra and Doriss in a few, if he'd reached the Turks before Shelke was taken, but they apparently were both Hounds in this one. By what he knew of them, Sirra was especially dangerous and largely self-serving, but neither of them were likely to torture someone unless they personally gained something from it. Kariya previously hadn't, and Ansha didn't seem to be the type to do so, either, so anyone trying it, even amongst the Guards, would probably not last long before one of the two would step in and end things.

With that realization, Auryn sighed tiredly and climbed into bed to try to sleep. He hadn't been expecting to do so while in such a dangerous position, but before he realized it, he had fallen asleep, dreaming about his family in the first dimension. Rude, who had been a father figure, Balto, Cissnei, and Freyra, who had been protective siblings, and Tseng...who had been what to him, exactly...? He'd never had an answer.

**Notes:**

(1) The Materia Fusion Paper from Salvation's Hands/Fates of Worlds would actually be more complete in this one (all speculations have now been resolved), but I'm not going to post it unless enough people send me a PM requesting it. After all, it's not going to be excessively different from the existing one in the previous two paths. I can provide the updated Paper via either DocX here on FFN (you'd have to establish a link with me for that) or via email. If you want the latter, remember to leave spaces in your email in the PM so FFN doesn't erase the address.


	6. 06-A New Clue

A New Clue

In the morning, Auryn jolted awake as he heard a sound like a door opening, and his gaze immediately moved in the direction of the sound. While he'd expected the man to be making his way over to him from the door between their rooms, instead he saw Kariya lounging against the jamb, his arms crossed as he gazed curiously at the blond. After a pause, Auryn realized the orange haired Turk wasn't moving, giving him space so he could take the time to finish waking up and actually assess there was no threat—and he did it so naturally, too, like it was just ordinary behavior. He hadn't been aware that putting torture victims at ease was part of a Turk's training—unless that came from Kariya's past, while he was an anti-Shinra terrorist?

"Awake enough to get ready to go out?" the man asked curiously as Auryn sat up.

"Go out?" the boy asked in return, confused.

"You need clothes, just to start," the man answered in a dry tone. "We can't just hand you uniforms unless you join a department, and if there's anything in here you want to change—or some things you'll want to get for when you're ready to have your own place—we can get those, too."

"...With what money?"

"For now, Lady Shinra's allowance for you."

"Allowance?"

"She's providing a fund to make sure you have what you need. About half of it is literally free money to do things like get you initially set up with a wardrobe, get you medical care, and so on. The other half is a loan you'll be paying back with a small percentage of your wage once you're established in a job—obviously more than one factor is involved in how quickly it gets paid back, but she doesn't charge interest for loans to people in need of support, and there's no actual start or end date for repayment. When dealing with business partners, she's a lot more ruthless."

The words were both confusing and mind-boggling—he was being given money to just use to get started over again with his life? He'd have felt too unsettled to take the money if it was all just free, so at least some of it was on the basis of a loan he'd have to pay back. It still confused him to have any free money at all, and by the sounds of things, until he had a job, half of the money he was going to be getting was free and the other half was a loan. Why was he being given free money?

"Do your daughters have the same agreement?" he finally asked of the man.

Kariya's brow rose, but he said, "Shalua has a similar agreement because she's legally an adult, but in her case, the literal cost of her education is what she's going to have to pay back—that is, her tuition. Since she has a private tutor, that includes the supplies said tutor provides for her, but if she does study outside that, she's getting that on the allowance which is free money. I've made arrangements to pay back half of the loan portion for her, but the other half is being left for her to take care of. Shelke, at nine, is being fully provided for until she turns fourteen, like any child would be."

"...Free money doesn't sit right with me," Auryn said with a sigh.

"Let me guess—'nothing in the world is free', right? There's always a string of some sort attached?" the man asked, and the boy gave a small nod. "If life was so absolute, there wouldn't _be_ a society. What President Shinra wants to create can't feasibly sustain itself, even to the end of his lifespan—I mean, unless he dies now or in the next little while, his 'empire' will collapse under its own weight right in front of him. Only Lady Shinra is keeping it afloat, and she's doing it by giving back to the people some of what Shinra takes from them. Sometimes, kindness is more valuable than any amount of money, because it's the kindness _people_ are more likely to pay back, or to pay forward to someone else in need. Some just take advantage, granted, but that's only—five to ten percent of all the people the kindness is given to."

The words caused Auryn to feel a sudden, sharp sting of pain in his heart as he thought back to _his family_, to Al, to Winry, to Teacher, and to Rude, Tseng, Balto, and Freyra. What they had given him, what he had given back, especially his discussions with Rude about what he got in return for what he gave to his family, or what he gave back to his family for things he was given. What he had given was honest gratitude, or trust, or respect...what he had gotten had been the same, and when Rude had confronted him in Gongaga what felt like so long ago, he had tangibly begun to realize those intangible and priceless things. Equivalent Exchange didn't work unless some material goods or a mathematical equation were involved—they didn't apply to life.

Before he realized it, at the memories Kariya's words had provoked, tears began sliding down Auryn's cheeks. As much as these people _looked_ like his family, they weren't, and he could never have those bonds back. But Hell, he _wanted_ them back, more than he had since he'd realized he couldn't re-introduce himself to them as the Turk Eden.

A hand in his hair made him look up at Kariya, who just gently ran his fingers through his hair in a soothing way, much the way a father would with a distraught child. He was sitting on the edge of the bed near the boy, but not close enough to touch him other than the hand, so Auryn was in a position of having more comfort in reach and having the space to be able to take it or not. The gentle touch to his hair was letting him know the comfort was there if he wanted it—that the choice was his. But right then, he hurt so much more than he had in a very, very long time, so at first, he was frozen as he tried to decide what to do.

Finally, he leaned forward and let his head fall against Kariya's shoulder, crying softly into it as strong arms settled gently around him in both comfort and protection. And because he kept being reset to his sixteen-year-old self, he had never fully outgrown that desire to feel protected for a change, so he willingly sucked up every bit of protection he could get. After all, who knew when things would turn sour and he'd lose any chance to have it again?

By the time he stopped crying, over half an hour had passed and he felt drained in a way he usually didn't. After a few minutes of quiet, during which time Kariya just let him stay where he was, the man asked, "Ready to pick out a few changes of clothes now?"

"No...I just want to go back to sleep..." Auryn muttered, and the man chuckled.

"Not surprising." There was a pause, then he offered, "Come over to my apartment to eat, and see if that helps you feel better. If you still don't feel up to a trip, even a short one, you can go back to bed and we'll try again this afternoon or tomorrow."

With a small sigh, the sixteen-year-old agreed, "Okay. But I'm not drinking milk."

The man gave another chuckle and pulled him gently to his feet. They made their way to the kitchen of Kariya's apartment, where the orange haired man used the oven to warm the meal he'd prepared, then they sat and ate. Auryn was surprised to find the food rejuvenating, and by the time they had finished, he felt well enough to go out. It didn't take long, as the man had apparently only planned for a short trip that day to get him some shirts and pants he could switch off with the one set of clothes he already wore. Once he'd chosen a week's worth of clothing—shirts, pants, socks, underwear, and even a vest he'd really liked—from the one store, they returned to the hidden apartment so Kariya and he could put it all away.

Auryn was then mostly left alone for the rest of the day, other than for meals and to raid Kariya's bookshelf so he had something to do.

It was the following day after they had eaten lunch when Kariya sat Auryn down at his own kitchen table with paper and a pen and told him, "Now that you have some basics for clothing, and they're mostly general wear for the warmer part of the year in Midgar, we have the time to make a list of what else you need and want and to plan trips to get them. First, you'll need a few changes of warmer clothes and winter gear for the colder months here, or for if you travel. You'll also need a pair of rain boots and a raincoat, but you hopefully won't need to use them much. You'll need at least one formal suit, regardless of your eventual job, and a hat or two, and some suitable office clothes for interviews or to have a semi-casual look if you don't have to go full formal. Ties—probably just a couple which will go with everything you buy."

"...Are you going to stop anytime soon so I can tell you I have a heavy winter coat, boots, and gloves already?" Auryn asked tiredly as he wrote out the list without those winter items on it.

"Those leathers of yours will be great for places like Icicle Inn and Nibelheim in winter, but I'm not talking about anything so heavy. A light jacket and a medium jacket will do for most areas of the world," the man replied, so with a sigh, Auryn wrote them down. "But for clothing items, those should do. Now, the big question is whether you want to change anything in here, or to start gathering things now for when you have your own place. I wouldn't advise you getting furniture just yet, unless you see something you 'must have', regardless of your eventual job or residence—if that happens, we'll have to rent a storage room for you until you move in to your own place. Linens of all sorts, bedding, cushions, pillows—those are the kinds of things you should be looking at now."

Auryn hesitated for a minute before saying, "I like Wutain-style things, but the blanket is too gaudy for my tastes. I haven't had a chance to look at the rest of the stuff yet, but if anything else is so gaudy, I'd need to replace it with something plainer."

"There are a few sets of towels in a similar design to the blanket, but some other, plainer ones as well. I can get duplicates of those, and there was a blanket at the same shop which just had some branches covered in green leaves on it. The background was medium blue. If you think that'll work, I'll pick those up later today on my way home from visiting my girls, and that takes care of the 'gaudy' parts of this place. Are you going to want to get your own versions of any of the linens and bedding before you have your own place?"

"...Probably, but some of the stuff I want, you probably won't be able to find now, because I like a lot of the scenery images in here, especially the tiger in the bamboo forest in the bedroom. I don't mind prints which are mainly leaves or animals, but not when they're over-done, and that's true of everything from linens to cushions. If what you say about that blanket is true, I can probably live with it here, at least, but I don't know if I could have it all the time."

Kariya chuckled and said, "Then I should invite Tseng over so he can have a look and tell me if any of these things can even be found again, or something similar. He'll also have the connections to get the bedding and linens you prefer."

"That's going to cost a ton of money, though, isn't it?"

"Your allowance will cover it. Believe me, if what Lady Shinra told me is true about the amount she started you with, she's given you—well, almost six months' worth of a Platinum Rank Turk's or a beginner SOLDIER First's pay, not including hazard pay. You have plenty to buy things like that with, and if it keeps you happy for a long time after, it's worth the investment."

Auryn stared, then sighed. Was he ready to face Tseng again so soon? Every time the man had tortured him, the feeling of wanting to be _away_ from him had grown, and it was something of a miracle he hadn't had a complete breakdown by the stagnant Mako cave. Then again, he had only not broken down because he'd mainly been able to focus on Verde, someone he legitimately didn't know. This time, he wouldn't have a buffer like that.

"...At least one of your torturers was Wutain, and male, right?" Kariya asked suddenly, an expression of surprise, dawning realization, and understanding on his face.

...Well, _that_ had been unexpected. "...Yes."

"I thought there was a reason both that you seemed uncomfortable around him and that you've been exposed to Wutain art and linens," the orange haired man nodded. "Were they all Wutain?"

Blinking, Auryn had to look up at him to ask, "If they had been, don't you think I'd be a lot less afraid of you and a lot more volatile around him?"

"That actually depends on the degree of torture, and how you were, or weren't, able to deal with it," the Turk said shrewdly. "No, if they were mainly male, even if they had all been Wutain, the fear of _men_ would have carried over. You aren't as afraid of women, so I'm guessing most of your suffering was due to men, not women, and even then, some of the fear carried over to women, too."

For a long minute, the blond sixteen-year-old gazed at him tiredly, then looked away and said, "They weren't all Wutain—they mostly weren't Wutain—and they weren't all men, there were just many fewer women involved."

"Yeah, it was a lab of some sort, so that makes sense," Kariya agreed. "But you need to realize Tseng isn't someone you need to be afraid of, so I'll call him to head over. If he's available now, that'll be great, but if not, you'll have some time to rest and brace yourself for the meeting." He pulled out his PHS without waiting for Auryn's answer, finding a number and letting it dial as he lifted the phone to his ear.

"Don't just—" the blond began urgently, then realized he was being ignored, so just got up and went to the bathroom in his room, where he locked the door and just slumped in the corner, arms wrapped around his knees as he trembled and tried not to cry. He normally dealt with things a lot better, but for some reason, he wasn't having much luck dealing with the thought of both Kariya ignoring him and Tseng's pending arrival.

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door and the man's voice called, "Doing all right, Auryn?"

He wanted to answer, but he didn't have anything to say, or that he especially wanted to say, right then. He was surprised when Kariya apparently gave up after one shot at trying to get him to respond, though—but it didn't take him long to find out why he did. Within five minutes, another knock came on the door, but it sounded different from the way Kariya knocked on doors.

"Auryn, I know you can hear me," Tseng's voice came through the door, making him start with surprise and fear. His nails dug into his arms subconsciously. "I know you don't have any reason to trust me, or even to trust Kariya, but right now, you're behaving like a caged animal faced with an open cage door into the unknown. You have a chance for something better, but in the past, any chance you had to reach for anything better only caused you harm, so you now fear the attempt. However, that's only part of your problem. The other part of it is that you're afraid of what you might find outside your cage, so you're running away from the change."

There was a pause before the man said in a softer tone, "The world is a scary place, and I'm the first to admit there's pain, fear, and suffering in it—after all, I was tortured and thrown in the ocean to drown when I was only ten. But, I also found out that suffering isn't all there is in the world. There was a time when I was terrified of the world because of the cruelty it had shown me. If I had never tried to trust anyone, if I had stayed hidden away in the cage my torturers had shoved me into—I wouldn't be here now, with people I care about and trust, willing to take the good, the bad, and everything in between to live my life with them."

Again, the man paused for a moment, then said, "You need to make the decision to leave your cage and step into the world. We'll be waiting for you in the living room when you're ready. I hope you won't choose to stay in your cage."

Silence fell again, and Aruyn was boggled by Tseng's unexpected speech. It reminded him of the one the man had once given him about one's choices and what they were actually responsible for. He was only responsible for what he had chosen to do, or not do, not for the actions of others—he wasn't responsible for Tseng having chosen to torture him in other dimensions, or for any of the Turks having done so. They had been able to choose other paths or options, something they should have done for the simple fact that the Turks didn't favor torture as a means of accomplishing anything but cold-hearted fear. Since they had intended to kill him, the torture literally had no purpose, like they had all been broken...

And right then, Auryn had made a choice and now needed to make another.

It was strange to think that Tseng was right and he was effectively a caged animal afraid to leave said cage for the unknown—but to offset that, how many times had the open door led him to suffering, torture...? How many more times could he take that kind of betrayal and suffering before he broke?

...If he _didn't_ keep trying, could he actually prevent himself from breaking?

Leaning his head back against the wall, Auryn sighed and lifted his hands to his head to drag his fingers through his hair. He had been trying to make himself believe avoiding everyone was going to help him when the reality was very different, and the danger to his own sanity and mental state was actually just as likely to be negative, regardless of which path he chose. The main difference was that being alone meant no one would be there to help him when he completely broke down, but taking the chance to be with others meant there was always a chance some or all of them would help him through the worst.

Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet and moved to the door, hand frozen on the handle as he struggled to fight off the panic trying to take over his mind. After a few minutes, he gave up on the struggle in itself and just shoved the door open through the fear—and found the bedroom empty as Tseng had said it would be. Still, the fear didn't go away, or even lessen, so he had to force himself to walk to the open bedroom door, where he stopped again, staring at the two men from where he stood.

For the first time, he realized something was physically wrong with his emotions.

The men looked up at him, Tseng with confusion and Kariya with a worried expression. Rising, the orange haired man approached him, but he shook his head slightly and the older man stopped abruptly.

"I can't make it stop...I think something's really wrong this time..." Auryn managed to whisper, unable to make the fear stop as he backed into the room again, right back against the far wall.

"Tseng, call the doctor—he's having a panic attack he can't bring under control himself!" Kariya called back to the Wutain, then carefully approached the blond again, gauging his distance, then sitting cross-legged on the floor at about that distance from him. He was silent, just watching as Auryn huddled in the corner and tried to shake off the fear—his attempts were probably the only thing keeping him aware and sane.

Soon after, Lucrecia walked into the room followed by Sephiroth and Tseng as she asked, "Any change?"

"He's struggling against it, but it's like he has no control over it, even after this long," Kariya answered, looking up at her.

The woman's gaze turned sad and she gave a small sigh. "Sephiroth, stay close to me and be ready to restrain him—without hurting him if at all possible—if he tries to either run or attack. I need to give him a chemical stabilizer."

To the surprise of the Turks (and vaguely in the back of Auryn's mind, the part still aware and sane), Sephiroth seemed to understand what the words meant as he drew in a sharp breath, then followed a step behind his mother as she quietly approached the blond. She was speaking softly to him, letting him know she was moving closer to him to give him medicine to calm him down. At first, he didn't seem to be reacting, and it looked like he would let her give him the injection she had hidden in her pocket (she knew from her previous examination that he had _issues_ with needles), but as she was kneeling beside him, he moved suddenly—

And crashed right into Sephiroth, who wrapped his arms firmly around the wiggling, struggling blond. He actually had to struggle to keep his grip, letting him know why she had asked for him to join her, because the boy had some sort of strength enhancement which placed him at the same level as a SOLDIER, and no one else could have restrained him forcibly. Then he got a look at the boy's eyes in the midst of his struggles, and they glowed vivid green, like the color emitted by raw Mako. A few moments later, the blond went limp in his hold and he looked up to see his mother gently removing a needle from his upper arm.

There was a long silence before Tseng asked her, "So what actually happened just now, Doctor?"

With a small sigh, she answered, "Auryn has been—genetically modified—in ways which cause chemical imbalances in his brain. Those imbalances cause anxiety and manic states, amongst other things, because they were done incorrectly, more like a half-trained hack just playing around to see what would happen rather than an actual study. I was afraid something like this would happen if he was pushed to his emotional limits too often in too short a period of time. While I can give him medication for the time being, it's not a long-term solution, so I'll have to try genetic modification to allow the chemicals to re-balance. Until then, if the chemical imbalance gets out of hand, he'll need a shot of stabilizer. Do you understand what I'm talking about, Auryn?"

"Yes," the blond answered tiredly from where he still rested against Sephiroth's body. "I have no control over it—or my emotions—until it's fixed."

"Yes, and no. You don't have as much control as a normal person would, but you still have some, and there are things you can do to extend the times between getting injections. For now, do you feel well enough to find your own feet again?"

The blond didn't answer and didn't move, just too tired and too calm from the effects of the tranquilizer-like stabilizer to bother.

After a few moments of silence, Sephiroth asked, "Mom, why did his eyes glow _green_ when they had been gold at first?"

"Apparently, that's the effect natural Mako has on a human body," she told him, and the two Turks traded startled looks.

The silver haired man's gaze lifted to hers as he commented with a confused frown, "But I wasn't infused with natural Mako."

"Your eyes aren't green because of the effects of Mako—the only influence that had on your eyes was to make them glow," she replied evenly. "Your eye color and how it holds as-is comes from your genetics, the same ones your father didn't want me to tell you about. Auryn's genetic modifications are completely different and let the Mako flow freely to affect his eyes as natural Mako would do."

"Oh. I see," the SOLDIER answered quietly. "Does it mean anything in particular that he's not moving away from me?"

"At this point, only that he's too exhausted and half-way tranquilized to bother moving," Lucrecia said in mild amusement. "Now, if he did the same thing when he was fully aware and not drugged, I'd say it had meaning."

Her son gave a small nod of acknowledgment at the words, but remained silent.


	7. 07-True Data

**A/N:** Funny little anecdote because it was so priceless...:

My roommate came home after a day at work, and she was saying she wanted something, but, like sometimes happens, the brain shuts down and she had to try three times to get it out.

What she ended up saying: "I want ships and dick."

My response: "...Does that mean you want to get into bed with a sailor?"

After we had a good laugh about that, she had to try four more times to finally get out what she ACTUALLY meant: "I want chips and dip!"

Now, after that hilarity, on with the story!

True Data

It was only a minute or so after silence had fallen that Kariya suddenly said, "We do still have one problem, though."

"That is?" Lucrecia blinked in surprise.

"We can't actually stop him from going through emotional upheaval, or even reduce the incidences, because it's produced by mundane things like telling him that kindness isn't dead yet. And 'not talking to him' isn't going to happen," the Turk told her evenly.

"I wasn't suggesting you do something like that," the doctor answered equally as evenly. "I meant that Auryn can practice certain techniques, meditative ones, to help bring that emotion back to manageable levels before it gets out of control in the _first_ place. What _you_ would need to do is pay attention to his behaviors and shut up while he gets a handle on himself again before going on with what you were saying."

Kariya frowned at the phrasing, but Tseng said, "There's a certain logic to that. On that same token, I'd like to help him learn the techniques, hopefully to foster trust between us. I've noticed he has stronger negative reactions to me than to many others, but if Kariya's suspicion is correct, that means he needs to get to know _me_, as I am right now, to overcome his fear and realize I may not be who he was trained to believe I am."

The woman's eyes went back to Kariya in questioning surprise as Auryn mused over the words, wondering what had prompted such an assessment. That it was Kariya who had figured—something—out didn't surprise him, as the man had been spending the most time with him up to that point, but the 'what' was the question.

Kariya agreed, "I'll give you a more detailed explanation of that once we see that Auryn is taken care of."

"Sephiroth, move him to the bed. For now, he needs to rest, first and foremost. Tseng, if you want to 'foster trust' with him, you'll need to become a fixture in his life, someone he can associate with a lack of suffering regardless of how long you're in his company. Since Kariya and I need to talk and Sephiroth has to go in the next five minutes to get to his flight for his next mission, you'll need to stay with him to monitor his state." The woman paused as Sephiroth rearranged Auryn to carry him to the bed, then she sighed and added, "For now, there's nothing else we _can_ do. If his state, mental or physical, changes for the worst, I need you to call me immediately. To that end, I'll be in the building most of the day today."

"Very well," Tseng agreed as Sephiroth was putting Auryn down.

As Tseng tucked Auryn in, Sephiroth left the room, followed by Kariya and the doctor, leaving Auryn alone with the Wutain Turk. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to pretend it wasn't Tseng alone in the room with him, tried to stem the flashes of painful memories the other man's presence produced. It wasn't working well, and his breathing started to become harsher. His reactions to Tseng had become abhorrently strong, more than he was familiar with, though that could have come from what he'd done to him in the previous dimension he'd been in. That Tseng—had that even really been Tseng at all? It had been his name and face, but his behavior...

"You know, more than anything, your behavior tells me Kariya is right," the Wutain commented quietly, sadly.

"...Right about what?" Auryn asked softly, warily.

"Are you sure you're ready to face what they actually did to you?"

"If they've already done it to me, I've already 'faced' it to some degree."

"...Your captors have manipulated your mind to believe we—some of us at least—have hurt you personally. If he's right that most of the ones you react to that way are the newest Turks to join our ranks, they were planning to unleash you on us after most of the old hands and most skilled of us had died," Tseng said quietly. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to see someone behaving in a way completely opposite to the way you've been taught the person will behave."

Auryn's eyes opened wide at the words and turned to Tseng in shock, producing a faint smile as the older man said, "However long it takes, I'll prove to you we aren't what you thought we were—I was."

First, Auryn's mind just shut down completely and he stayed that way until sometime the next day. His immediate thought when he returned to awareness was: had Kariya really somehow—figured out some kind of past association? It shocked him to find it somehow hadn't mattered beyond producing one more problem in need of fixing. As if _that_ wasn't shocking enough, there was Tseng's reaction...

Speaking of Tseng, the man was still sitting in the room with him, so going back to what the Turk had last said to him produced more of the same fearful puzzlement. "Why?" he asked softly in a strangled tone, drawing the other man's attention. The Wutain tipped his head to the side with a curious, confused expression. "Why would you even care enough about a stranger to bother taking so much time for something you don't even know will ever work?"

"Why would I care about _anyone_?" Tseng asked in reply. Auryn blinked. "It's not a matter of you being a stranger or an acquaintance or family. You've been fed a lot of lies, and I know of at least one sure-fire method they'd have been able to torture you using my appearance without you knowing any better. Not only is that something I can't abide because I loathe torture and being presented as a torturer sits completely _wrong_ with me, but it's not healthy for you, either, to think something which isn't true about someone. I have no doubt someone tortured you, but that person wasn't _me_. Let's add to that the fact that everyone is a stranger when they first meet, and I have no reason _not_ to help you."

After a long silence, Auryn asked, "Is there a situation where you would torture someone?" His gaze was hurt, accusing, as he asked the question.

The Wutain sighed and replied, "My personal experience has been that there are exceptionally few people incapable of causing suffering with the correct incentive. I loathe torture, but there remains a possibility something could cause me to snap and do so. What kind of behavior did the 'other me' display?"

Frowning, the blond wondered why the question was even relevant, but finally, he sighed, "It depended on the situation time-by-time." Could he get answers this way? Would Tseng humor him? Or...?

"What was the most common situation you were put in?" Tseng asked after blinking in surprise, moving to the edge of the bed rather than the chair he had been sitting in.

"...I want—I want answers I don't know you can give me, and telling you—unless it was all literally made up—might cause you to hate me..." Auryn whispered, eyes full of pain and fear as he looked at the black haired man sitting beside him.

With a sigh, the older man said quietly, "I won't be able to tell you that until I know what data you were given to work with. I can't give you a better answer."

Shaking his head slightly, Auryn thought about what he should say, how much information he should give—only to recall that a lot more people knew about Aeris than Tseng realized, they just weren't in a rush to get their hands on her. Yet.

"The most common was...There's a girl who lives in the Sector Five Slums and she visits the Church there to take care of the flowers. Her name is Aeris Gainsborough." He stopped as Tseng's eyes widened and his skin paled, but he motioned for Auryn to go on. "She escaped from the Shinra labs several years ago, and you were sent to technically retrieve her, but no one is actively making you do so. But, you're protective of her all the same and don't react well to strangers you find in her presence, especially not strange men. Because—because of the changes to my body, apparently she takes me as one of her people and a brother to her, but you—never took that well. Nearly every time you would find me with her, you'd wait until she or I left one another's company and torture me—to death. Many times, that was physical, but sometimes it went further, and much more painfully."

Tseng was pale as a sheet as he whispered, "I don't even know where to start with assessing how frightening—and how just plain _wrong_—that data is, right from the first thing you said." Auryn was surprised by the words, but he also realized Tseng wasn't referring to the 'truth' of the data when he'd said it was 'wrong'. "When you were shown Aeris, what did she look like to you?"

"She had Lifestream green eyes, earthy brown hair in a long ponytail, and normally wore a white and blue horizontally-striped dress," the blond answered quietly.

The Wutain dropped his head into one hand and muttered, "How could _anyone_ know that...?"

There was a knock on the doorjamb, making both look up to see Vincent and Lady Shinra there. "What happened?" Vincent asked, gaze on Tseng. "You look like you're going to be sick, Tseng."

"Whoever had Auryn knows about my charge in the Slums—in detail far too frightening to ignore," Tseng answered. Both others' eyes widened in surprise. "This is a major security breach which would effectively mean we, as the Turks, are already backed into a corner. The only ways they could have gotten the data are from their own spy network or from the President handing them our data—and the Science Department's—in complete form."

From behind Vincent and Lady Shinra, Kariya commented, "That could explain what happened with Shelke, too. It would make sense if someone was giving them our records."

Tseng looked back at Auryn, who was watching him warily, then gave him a small smile. "I'm not going to do anything to you. If anything, I'd like to know if she really _would_ take you as a brother—it would mean they know a great deal more about the intricacies of what they're doing than we assumed. By extension, they would have damaged your genes deliberately to get certain results, results they already _knew_ they would get by doing it. She is our best and fastest way to verify that, if you'd like to meet the _real_ person they were showing you?"

The blond blinked golden eyes in surprise, then whispered, "You're okay with that?"

"I am. I can't see why the version of me they showed you would have turned on you for being someone she liked, unless it was because that 'me' hadn't been as close to her as I am—that the version you saw didn't see her like a sister or trust her opinion of people she met. In that case, it would have been easy to think you were 'taking advantage' of her kindness, and if I had never been so close to her, I doubt I would be as sane as I am now on top of it. Because she's my sister in all but blood, I trust her, and if she trusts you, I have no doubt she's right. We won't have an answer unless you meet her. Though, I can safely say it won't happen today."

"It won't," Lady Shinra agreed. "But you have a valid point, and I think you should make arrangements for such a meeting. In the meantime, Tseng, I need you to show me something while Kariya takes up his watch again."

Drawing in a few deep breaths, Tseng nodded and rose to step out of the room with Lady Shinra and Vincent, even as the orange haired man moved over to sit in the place Tseng had previously occupied. Rather than talking with him, Kariya stared into the distance for a bit, just being company without paying special attention to Auryn.

"Do all of you...think I can't protect myself?" the blond asked after a pause.

Kariya turned to look at him, expression amused. "Tseng and Verde have reason to believe you'll be at least as strong as Sephiroth, if not stronger, but being physically able to protect yourself and being mentally capable of doing so are two different things. That's besides the fact that you're mentally wounded and need time to heal. Between the two, we know you're able, but also that you don't have the _will_ to do so, something you've more than demonstrated _at least_ three times since we've met you. After all, if you had the _will_, chances are Verde and Tseng would have come back badly injured, but instead, you went limp and would have _let_ them torture you without resistance."

Auryn had to flinch at the words before rolling over onto his side to face away from the man. He had a shockingly good point, and it was really true he'd been tortured so many times he'd literally stopped fighting back. If it was one of the Hounds, someone like Balto, who was actually likely to really harm him, he'd pretty much give them a free pass to do whatever they wanted to him, not because he was in any way willing, but because he didn't have the will to stop them. The reason for his current living situation hit home as he actively realized he was truly so mentally damaged he'd just _let_ something like that happen to him.

"I was one of the ones you recognized, so what is it about me that allows you this much trust in me?" Kariya asked after a pause, resting his hand on Auryn's back.

"...Not everyone they—introduced to me was someone who tortured me," the blond sighed softly. "Cissnei—never tortured me, either, like you never did, just to start. And some people sometimes did while sometimes didn't. The scenarios kept changing. I could have sworn so many times that I'd died, but then I'd wake up and was right back where I'd started, but with a different scenario playing out. There was even one where Doctor Crescent tried to kill me and one where Hojo helped me, saved my life, even though he was usually presented as a sadistic torturer."

"...Cissnei is a Hound. Are you saying you'd give her more trust than you'd give Eonna or Verde?"

"Don't bring in people I didn't recognize to start with. I'm only sane in the first place because I had Verde to focus on—someone I didn't know—while I was having a panic attack on the mountain. I'd trust Cissnei—or even _Sirra_—more than I'd trust Alvis or Balto, and Sirra's a—let's just say that if the personality I knew her by is even a fraction of her real one, she's not a nice person who doesn't give a damn about anyone but herself. She only helped to torture me once in those scenarios because all the rest of the time, 'she wasn't getting anything out of torturing me'."

After a silence at Auryn's cross words, Kariya gave a small chuckle and admitted, "It's true Sirra has that kind of personality. And I'll admit Cissnei's a gentle soul at heart. Does that mean you're aware the 'scenarios' may not have been true?"

For several long moments, Auryn thought of how he should explain his thoughts on the matter, then sighed and said, "To me, they were _all_ real, I lived through them all. It may not have been so bad if the first one hadn't first established all those people as allies, friends, and family before turning around and making them my torturers. How many times can someone live through that before they believe it, whether it was real or not?"

No, he wasn't questioning the reality of the dimensions he'd lived through, not after so many times, but the explanation Kariya had come up with for him was actually very useful for explaining it with only slight modification. It really made his life a lot easier suddenly.

At the sharp breath Kariya drew in at the question, Auryn knew the man had realized where he was coming from. His following words affirmed the thought, "In that case, I can't fault you for your reactions, or for taking people you don't know far better than the ones you do. How—different is this reality from the ones you were given?"

Auryn had to snort at the question, but Lady Shinra's voice came from the door as she commented, "I'd like an answer to that as well."

"So would I," Vincent added.

For a moment, the blond hesitated, then sighed softly again. "Let's just _start_ with the fact that the Turks always had only one faction in every scenario, and it was led by Verdot. Vincent was dead and a walking corpse with an entity called Chaos attached to him—in every one of them. Lady Shinra had been dead for years, and Doctor Crescent was crystallized in the stagnant Mako pool's cave. That's just a few basics which were true in all but a few of them, where the only deviation came from Doctor Crescent not necessarily being in that cave. Is that enough?"

Silence followed for a minute, then Vincent said, "That would have been President Shinra's ideal scenario. We already suspect that the people who nearly killed our Turks to take Shelke were acting on President Shinra's orders—this would fall in line with that thought. I think we have a bigger problem than we realized. Auryn, do you have names for those who tortured you?"

He gave another snort and turned to look at the man, again seeing all the differences. He noted how Lady Shinra was leaning against the wall next to the door into Kariya's room and Tseng and Doctor Crescent were both standing in the doorway with Vincent. "I know a few random names which may not be true. I don't know if they're part of any one group in particular because I never saw anything of the facility I was in—I escaped because they underestimated the result of what skills I could develop in the time I was running through all those different lifetimes. What I know for a fact, because it was _also_ true in every lifetime I lived, is that the group after a girl called Shelke Rui, or Shelke the Transparent if she reached their hands, was called Deepground, which was the President's private army he was building in secrecy. They were nearly all insane or psychotic as well, though a small number of them could be salvaged."

The others stared at him in something like horror, and Auryn blinked at how much he'd just blurted out, then instinctively recoiled, winding himself into the blanket and sheets, meager protection though that would be. The panic took him more forcefully than he'd been expecting, though he vaguely heard a woman curse, then felt the sharp, sudden pain of a needle in his arm. Within moments, he began calming, becoming aware enough to realize his arm had been yanked out from the blankets, then more recently pushed away from his face so Lucrecia could see his eyes. She gave a nod and sigh of relief, then gave his shoulder a pat and rose to move back to the door.

The silence which followed was lengthy before Kariya cleared his throat and said, "Well, they seem to have embedded a great deal of valid data into you. At the same time, I'm not sure Deepground directly would have done such a thing, as that would have given you too much data we could use to work against them. That would leave a third party with far too much data on things they shouldn't know. But to verify it, that meeting you and Tseng were talking about would have to be arranged, and with the number of Hounds here right now, it may have to wait awhile."

"There's a faster one you can try. Two, actually," the blond answered haltingly. "Assuming you won't try to kill me just for suggesting it..."

Several sighs answered him before Vincent said, "Great Shiva...! _No one_ is going to try to kill you for helping us verify how true the data you have is. What's your idea?"

Shivering, Auryn had to wonder if that would really be true. Finally, he asked, "In SOLDIER, there's a red haired First known as Commander Genesis Rhapsodos, right?"

"There is," Lucrecia verified.

"He's Sheridan Rui, Kariya's supposedly dead son. You should find that in a blood test. You'll also find that his base genetics are deteriorating, the cells randomly dying off—he's basically rotting from the inside out—so is Commander Angeal Hewley. A transfusion from Sephiroth should fix that," Auryn forcibly blurted out, struggling against all his instincts to _just not say it_. It was shockingly _hard_ to be so open with these people. Of course, it was likely less about it being 'them' and more about it being the fact that he'd learned so well not to share because it just earned him suffering.

Shocked silence followed the words, until Lucrecia said, "I'm going to go see Hollander for the regular records checks Hojo and I run on the Department staff. Auryn is right to say we can validate that data, and we can do it now. At this point, we _need_ to let him rest and just not have these ups and downs for awhile—the only reason he hasn't already gone back into full panic mode yet is because of the drug in his system, but I also can't give him another dose for several hours. Kariya, I'm going to take your file with me and return later with the results of my findings."

"That's fine," Kariya answered, still sounding winded. It wasn't really surprising, as what Auryn had just told him was effectively blindsiding him with something he'd been shocked enough by when Genesis himself had found the data in the first dimension. While he would have wanted to interact more with them, see their expressions, all of his instincts were screaming at him to 'stay hidden', and he didn't have the strength to uncurl from his blanket cocoon.

Another, shorter silence followed, then Vincent said, "This is—unexpected. If it turns out to be true and we get a matching result from Tseng's friend in the Slums, we can safely say Auryn is a walking encyclopedia of amalgamated hidden data. On that premise—whoever tortured him this way can't possibly be a group of 'just humans' to know all these things. Or to share them. What logic is there to sharing that knowledge? No group out to take power would gain from making these things public knowledge through Auryn. They would also not be wanting something like world destruction, since these would all be things we could use to prevent negative outcomes."

"Sir, you're forgetting that he said he was never intended to escape," Tseng put in dryly. "We were never meant to find him or to gain any of this knowledge, it was all intended to make him despise us and our way of handling things in our world. Honestly, if he had the will to fight, I wouldn't _want_ to go up against him as his enemy."

"While all of that is valid, we shouldn't be having this discussion here and now," Lady Shinra cut them off. "Tseng, please stay with him to monitor him as the Doctor requested, and the rest of us should leave so he's able to rest. And no further discussions, Tseng. As enlightening as it proved, it _isn't_ helping to stabilize him."

"Very well," the Wutain Turk agreed, even as everyone shuffled around or left the room.

With only Tseng in the room, Auryn's 'rest' was fitful at best.


	8. 08-Clearing Up

Clearing Up

For the rest of that day, nothing much happened. It was around suppertime when Lucrecia returned with the results of her visit to Hollander, which she told to Kariya—they were affirmative on all fronts except for the transfusion, as Sephiroth was away. Where her data check differed was in the realization of more than one method of fixing Genesis' J-cells, the ones currently causing his problem. Auryn knew how her checks on Genesis had gone because Kariya shared the results with him and Tseng. They stayed in for the day, and Auryn only left his bed to use the bathroom or eat in Kariya's kitchen.

The next day and the one following, they left him alone.

He was grateful for that, for the option to only see others when he ate at the older man's. Quiet days were both sacred and rare to him, and he desperately needed the time to calm down. Shortly after supper of the second quiet day, he went and sat on the balcony, looking out over the city as he thought about his current situation. He also sighed more than once, but the weather was nicer than normal and he wanted to stay outside.

Suddenly, shortly after one sigh, feet landed a foot away from him, on the rail he leaned on. He looked up in alarm—at...Doriss? She didn't have a suit jacket or tie on, but she was in the Turks' uniform pants and shirt, gazing at him curiously with shrewd, pale blue eyes. At twenty-five, she had her blond hair cut in a short, somewhat shaggy crew cut falling about to the chin, and her twin dagger thigh holsters were in place. He looked up at the balcony above his with the sudden realization that her apartment was right above his own. It seemed the Hounds had direct access to him, regardless of the Guards' efforts. She was also one of the few 'old hands' he'd been able to meet more than a handful of times or not at all, and had participated in harming him as rarely as Cissnei, Kariya, and Sirra.

She stared at him for a long moment before commenting, "So...You're Lady Shinra's new stray." It wasn't a question, so he just stared at her without reply. Her expression became amused before she shook her head. "I don't have any reason to hurt you. She takes in strays all the time—Hellfire, _we_ take in strays all the time. It's nothing new, and I honestly have no idea why the others take it so personally and try to do anything at all to the newcomers." She then paused and jumped down to the floor of his balcony, then went to his balcony door and opened it, letting herself in so she could look around.

"I didn't give you permission to come in, you know," he told her crossly as he followed her.

"You _also_ didn't try to stop me, verbally or otherwise," she replied breezily.

"That's part of the reason they were trying to keep anyone not in the Guards away from me," he replied, and she spun to face him with a confused expression.

"...You...Oh. You're like Donnel and can't actually defend yourself properly against those you perceive as having authority." She glared off into the distance as she muttered, "I always hate it when Verdot uses that against him. Stupid..." There was a pause, then Doriss began looking around again as she said more loudly—obviously not realizing Auryn had heard her— "I'm Doriss, by the way. I don't know that the Guards are as much on the up-and-up as they like to make newcomers think, but they usually are more forgiving than the Hounds. I'm not surprised they'd take care of you. Though, with no way out of this apartment, you're as good as a prisoner here."

"I can climb the outside of the building," Auryn informed her, making her face him with a surprised blink. "But that isn't why they wanted to have me in this room. It was meant to keep people away from me who were likely to cause me mental breakdowns or panic attacks."

"...And has it worked?" she asked curiously.

"Not when my triggers are ordinary things like someone caring enough to give me a shoulder to cry on," the younger blond offered. "If it's this bad with people who aren't _trying_ to cause problems like that, I can't imagine what it would be like without that shield."

Doriss was quiet for a minute before sitting down at his table and motioning him to sit across from her. "Do you trust them?" she asked as he sat.

"...That's...complicated. I can't just answer it."

"I'd be more worried if none of the Hounds had any way to reach you or keep tabs on things. Because I can, and _we_ can if we really need to, we can see how things go. Be cautious, though, because they can be just as vile as we can in the process of trying to get what they want."

"I'm aware of that. Why did you choose the Hounds instead of the Guards?"

"Why? My first experience as a new trainee who hadn't chosen a faction was to be attacked and badly wounded by one of the Guards who is now dead. It was Anki, who is notably psychotic, who found me and took me to the doctors for care, and even waited around to find out how I was doing once the doctors had moved me to another room. When Verdot asked me to join the Hounds, I agreed. After all, what did I have to offset that from the Guards? To his credit, I'm pretty sure our Director—Valentine, that is—killed my attacker soon after, and he gave me a sincere apology. He also doesn't tend to play the kinds of games with me that he does with other Hounds. That doesn't mean I'll suddenly feel safe with them."

Auryn was silent for a long time before he looked away and said, "None of this dynamic even makes sense to me. How long ago did Verdot attack Lady Shinra, and why did he feel he had to? Why did that split the Turks?"

"Is that what they told you happened?" she asked in surprise, and he turned back to her with a confused expression and a small nod. "To be fair, that was probably the final nail in the coffin of division," Doriss sighed softly. "But Auryn, this has been the case—the division, the Guards and the Hounds—for around _twenty years_, and that incident only happened _seven_ years ago." His eyes widened at that. "I asked Verdot once why we're divided. He told me they've been such nearly since the start of the Turks, though it was a lot quieter and the President had a lot fewer of us."

She paused for a moment, shaking her head. "It was only a few people he had, but he had them because he had helped them when Lady Shinra had refused. She was only selectively helping people, even the Turks, and it was the President filling in the gap. Verdot was one of the ones Lady Shinra had refused to help, but whom President Shinra did.

"The turning point which caused the Guards and the Hounds to form was when Valentine disobeyed his orders and took Doctor Crescent and one of Hojo's experimental subjects to one of the Turks' hidden safe-houses until Lady Shinra found them. Only Doctor Crescent's word kept him from being executed, but those who agreed with his reasoning and those who didn't force-created the Guards and the Hounds. I can't say if he was ever right to do what he did or not, but _that_ was the origin of the division. Verdot's loyalty to the President was literally the only reason he tried to carry out those orders to kill Lady Shinra, and the Guards took that as a personal affront—and, of course, so did anyone she had actually offered her assistance to. It just solidified a situation we were already in."

Auryn sat back in surprise as he gazed at the blond woman across from him, then got up and wandered back to the balcony door to stare outside.

They had lied to him.

He supposed it was possible some didn't know the whole story, but they were Turks, and he found it hard to believe they _didn't_ know. Especially not Tseng, who was very, very good at knowing things he shouldn't have known.

At the same time, he couldn't think of a reason why they even _needed_ to lie to him about that.

"...No one really knows anyone's reasons, do they?" he asked quietly.

"What?" Doriss asked in confusion.

"Why Lady Shinra helped some but not others, why the President helped anyone she didn't, why Vincent effectively kidnapped the Doctor and the subject, or many other events along the way. All everyone has is a series of actions or events with no purpose or motive," he clarified.

"Favoritism is favoritism."

"Not when favoring one person will mean slaughtering a town, while favoring another will save a life. Even if I wanted to help someone, if they were asking me to do something which would result in deaths, especially over an object, I couldn't bring myself to do it without another damned good reason. We don't know what those people were asking for, or if circumstances would have led to some other unpleasant situation. Did Verdot ever tell you what he asked for?"

"...No, but I was under the impression it was an object taken by thieves."

"Define 'thief'."

"Someone who steals things from others, takes things which don't belong to them without the owner's permission."

"So a starving man trying to feed his starving children is just the same as an average man stealing for the sake of making 'more' money than he had?"

"Stealing is stealing."

Auryn sighed. "Now I know the difference between the Guards and the Hounds."

"I beg your pardon?" Doriss asked in surprise.

"You Hounds operate in absolutes. There is no leniency, there is no look at motive or circumstances, just black or white—there's no gray, no in-between where things aren't simple to resolve," he told her. "That's—"

He was cut off by the sound of the door in his room opening as Kariya called, "Auryn! How about some company?"

When he looked back at Doriss, he couldn't see her and only knew she was there—and moving towards the wall where the front door should have been—because of both his bond with the Lifestream and his martial skills. Turning to look at his doorway as Kariya appeared in it, the blond sixteen-year-old said, "For a bit, I guess."

The man looked faintly amused, but moved over to sit on the couch. "You look like you're upset about something. Care to share, or would you rather find a different topic?"

Auryn blinked, then sighed and looked outside for a minute before asking, "Is there a difference between—say, someone stealing food to feed their family and someone stealing to make more money?"

The question made Kariya blink in surprise, but he said, "It's not fair to ask me that when I have a bias."

"What?" Auryn blinked, turning to look at him.

"When I was growing up, right up until I was about fourteen and joined a terrorist group, I was the 'someone stealing food to feed their family'," the man clarified. "Our father ditched us after Mom had given birth to their sixth child, my youngest sibling, and she had no feasible way to work _and_ take care of us. We were all only a year or a year and a half apart in age, so I was—I think eight when the baby was born and he left. We all helped when we could, but I started stealing around age ten, mainly food, or even digging around in garbage bins, to try to keep us at least decently fed. When I joined the terrorists, that stopped—only because some Infantry on orders from the President started going from house to house in Junon and killing the working poor and those not lucky enough to have work at the time. Hence why I even joined the terrorists until the Turks caught me and—gave me sound reason to join them."

"...So if Shinra did that to you, how did it suddenly become okay to join them?" Auryn asked in surprise. He _really was_ learning more about 'his family' in this dimension than he had in any previous one.

"Lady Shinra gave me the authority to kill Infantry stepping out of line like that, as long as she has a valid record of events and witnesses to trace so she can validate my actions. The President has stopped giving orders like that in the few years since I joined. Also, I think he's rather terrified of pissing off the Death God of the Battlefield. Lady Shinra gave me that authority because she _knew_ the abuses of the Infantry had to stop, but I still can't stop everything, and they know they have a good chance of getting away with their abuses here in the city if many of them in different areas are doing the same thing. I can't kill the whole Infantry, after all."

After a pause, Auryn clarified, "So, to you, the reason why a criminal is doing something changes how you handle them?"

"Normally, especially in the example you gave—I'd be more likely to give someone trying to feed their family work, and only give them a real punishment if they kept stealing after having the issue resolved. What were you intending by your question? That is, what feelers are you putting out _this_ time?"

The question was faintly amusing, but the blond sighed. "Would there be—any circumstance you could think of where what was done to me would be 'right'? That it would be justifiable?"

Kariya stared at him in something like horror. "Auryn, I don't think there's any sane human out there who can justify what you suffered through with something valid. That's for the purely psychotic who have no moral compass."

"That means you'd include Hojo in that."

"Even _he_ has some limiters."

Auryn's brow rose and he asked, "Are you sure?" Kariya blushed, and the blond sighed again before shaking his head. "But would there ever be some kind of validation for it? I don't know if there is something far-reaching enough to—do that. At the same time, if there are reasons to justify things like stealing..."

"Again, personally, I can't see a justification for torture," the older man said. "If we had more information, it might be that they felt their reason was valid. If the various experiments were done in the hopes of creating someone capable of saving the world from its own destruction, maybe I could see those, but that would then be assuming they already knew the fate of the world. Knowing what I do about Leviathan's Blessing, there might be a plausibility to that option, but again—I can't see Leviathan giving someone that Blessing if he knew they were going to torture and experiment on an unwilling victim. I've never known a psycho to get it, anyway."

For several long moments, Auryn was silent, then he looked away again. "I was told Verdot trying to kill Lady Shinra caused the split between the Guards and the Hounds. I still—can't grasp the situation enough to know why it was so important."

"Who told you that was the split?" Kariya asked in surprise.

"Tseng," the blond blinked in surprise. "I don't know if Verde heard him, but if he did, he didn't correct him. Was he wrong?"

"He was about thirteen years too late," Kariya replied, a small frown creasing his brow. "It's possible the full explanation was missed because of the events happening around that time—I'm not clear on all the details from the Turks' perspective, but apparently their new recruits until they caught me a few months later all got a trial by fire, on both sides, then things calmed down again. I was told there had always been a few Turks who weren't actually working in Lady Shinra's favor, but about twenty years ago—basically not too long after I was told my son was dead—Vincent pulled a hijacking from Hojo's labs in Shinra Manor out in Nibelheim. To make a long story short, rather than let Hojo torture Lucrecia and baby Sephiroth, he took them to a Turk safe-house, and only reappeared when Lady Shinra found them. The Guards and the Hounds split then, either in Vincent's and the Lady's favor or in the President's. Verdot trying to kill Lady Shinra just—made sure the divide became complete."

Auryn blinked—it was the same story Doriss had told—and moved back over to his seat at the table. Finally, he asked, "So, you joined the Guards because Lady Shinra gave you permission to police the Infantry?"

The man leaned back with a small sigh and a faint smile. "Partly. I mean, I probably would have gone with the Guards regardless, because my 'Baby Turk' is here."

"Your...what?" the younger man stared in surprise.

He gave a chuckle. "Did 'Tseng' ever tell you how we first met?"

"Uh—you killed his mentor, but for some reason, you didn't kill him?"

The older man looked amused. "Yeah, that. He was really just a kid still, not that much different from you, but even when he was badly injured, had just watched his mentor die, and had me—notorious as I was—bearing down on him, he still didn't give up, still kept struggling to survive. For the first time, I saw a _human being_ when I looked at a Turk, and I couldn't help but respect his strength. That's why I walked away, why I agreed to join the Turks, and why I'd have joined the Guards regardless."

"...Your 'Baby Turk'? I thought Cissnei universally held that label," Auryn put in flatly.

"I didn't know Cissnei then," Kariya shrugged. "And yeah, she's literally a 'baby' Turk, but I was calling Tseng that long before she was made a Turk, and I had given that nickname to him because he was a bare rookie—a 'Baby Turk'—who somehow got sent on a mission pitting him against the Death God of the Battlefield. I'm still trying to get Vincent and Lady Shinra to explain to me how _that_ happened."

"They don't have one?" the blond blinked.

"Not so far," the older man shrugged. "I know accidents happen, but they won't use that as an excuse, so—I'm not really sure what to think except that they actually have no idea what went wrong themselves."

"Could they have done it on purpose?"

"For what reason, Auryn? I've searched my mind for any possible reason they'd have deliberately sent Tseng and his mentor on that mission to get them killed, and have never found one. After retrieving Tseng, they also became extremely protective of him, which would strongly indicate they _hadn't meant_ to endanger him the way they did. On top of that, if they _had_ meant to kill Tseng then, he wouldn't be next on the list to fill the role of the Turk Director's second if something happens to either Vincent or Verdot—even _Verdot_ grudgingly agreed he'd accept Tseng as his second if he got bumped into the role of Director."

The new data made Auryn blink again, then sigh and drop his head onto the tabletop. "What a—fucking mess—you guys have made of things...You'd all be so much more effective if you were working together instead of being at each other's throats..."

"In some other lifetime, maybe," Kariya chuckled, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "By the way, do you like chocolate ice cream?"

Auryn perked up at the question and lifted his head to look at the man hopefully. "You have some?"

"Shelke and Shalua got some the other day, then told me to take some of it back home with me for you," he explained with an amused grin as he rose. "I'll go get it."

"Thank them for me!" Auryn called excitedly.

Kariya gave him a grin as he disappeared into Auryn's room and back through the door into his own. He returned soon after with a bowl and spoon for the teen, and with the remains of the ice cream in the package, which he put in the blond's fridge freezer. He then opted to let Auryn rest when he found the sixteen-year-old both wholly focused on the ice cream and lacking in further topics of discussion.

A few minutes after he'd left, Doriss reappeared beside the seat she'd used before and sat, eying him oddly, but waited until he'd finished eating his treat before saying anything. He beat her to it by saying, "Stealth Materia. I thought the only known copy belonged to the Goblin King on Goblin Island?"

She stared at him in surprise, then said, "I—took it from him about two years ago, found it Mastered almost right away, and gave him back the baby."

Auryn snorted at the words. "Thief."

"You asked me to define it, not to say I'm fully capable of being one. I also don't justify it—I wanted the item badly enough to want to risk it, but if at all possible, I return something to the person I stole from. It doesn't make it any less theft, and I know I could be—_disciplined_ for it."

"So, why are you just hanging around here?" he asked, pushing his now-empty bowl to the side of the table.

She leaned her elbows on the table, linked her fingers, and leaned her chin on the linked digits as she gazed at him for a moment. Finally, she said, "You were risking a lot by getting into a discussion like that with him while I was here. Why did you do it?"

"I can turn words as well as any of the senior Turks, and I wanted to get some of those answers for myself. And you didn't really hear anything useful or new you can pass on to your superiors which will make any difference to me—you already knew I've been experimented on, after all. Apparently Verdot would have forced Donnel to tell him everything he knew about me and my situation?"

Doriss sighed. "That's true, and you aren't wrong in saying I didn't learn any key points. That doesn't mean I didn't learn plenty of things we could potentially use against you or the other Guards. I agree with Kariya, though—I can't see a justification for torture, no matter what kind of situation is in play."

He blinked in surprise at her, then gave a small smile. "Thanks. Having it reinforced by two very different people is—has more meaning than just a guy who likes playing daddy to a bunch of kids saying it."

The woman gave a snort and rose, but didn't move away from her seat. "Why are you so excited by ice cream?"

Auryn stared at her for a minute, then sighed and said, "It's been a very long time since I've had a treat of any sort, and this is—the only one I have left that I don't associate with a bad memory."

She nodded. "That makes more sense than I care to admit. If you ever need help, or if you just want to talk, drop in to my apartment upstairs. I'll leave the balcony door unlocked for you." With that, she walked out through the balcony door and quickly climbed back up to her apartment.


	9. 09-Puzzling

**A/N:** The new list of Turks, with the OC's listed first, has been posted with this chapter, since nearly all the OC's have now appeared in this chapter. **I encourage readers to check out the OC's**, but the rest of the list is pretty much the same as in the previous parts of the story.

Puzzling

Doriss was confused.

Auryn was a puzzle, that was for sure, but the whole discussion he'd had with Kariya earlier that day was even more of one and left a multitude of frightening implications—ones just as dangerous to the Hounds as to the Guards if she was even half-way right.

Above all, she was a tactician. When someone mentioned methods of 'knowing the future', she looked into them—thoroughly.

Leviathan's Blessing had two forms. One was a series of minor 'blessings' which were traditionally called 'gifts.' A person was born with anywhere from one to all seven of them, and they persisted throughout the person's life. The trend was most prevalent in Wutai, but she'd learned through experience that people all over the Planet could also get them, and they followed the same general trends everywhere. 'Leviathan's Blessing' in full form, however, meant a person lived many years into the future, then their soul was sent back in time to their younger body however many years back the person needed to go in order to fix whatever had prompted the Blessing's activation. No one was born to it, but getting it mainly depended on both one's knowledge of what needed to be fixed and on their desire to fix it.

If she'd understood the discussion correctly, Auryn had met another 'Tseng' and another 'Kariya', and likely many others before. Even though Kariya didn't seem to realize what he'd said, attributing the blond's captors to possibly having it rather than what had been implied, _she_ had realized there was a good chance Auryn _himself_ qualified as a recipient of Leviathan's Blessing. There was also a good chance he knew a lot of things he currently couldn't share because he was too traumatized by his point of return being a point of torture and experimentation. He'd also have good reason to want to change things if that was indeed the case, and by him having known something as personal as how Kariya and Tseng first met, it was safe to say he had a lot more knowledge than that.

As much as she wasn't sure the Guards knew he should be taken as a recipient of Leviathan's Blessing, she knew they were aware, to some degree, of the knowledge he had. The 'Guards' were called by that name because they set up barriers and locked people out—or in. Maybe Auryn didn't realize his position, but the more he revealed to the Guards, the more likely they were to keep him locked up, and to tighten their hold more the more he revealed.

If that data was dangerous to the Hounds as well, she didn't think Verdot would actually treat the boy any better than the Guards were. He might even treat the boy _worse_, but that remained to be seen—given that Verdot was a father, there was a chance he'd take pity on Auryn instead.

But was _Auryn_ aware of what had happened to him?

Somehow, she thought he was, but possibly didn't have a name for it—he wasn't Wutain, so he hadn't been born into it and might not realize there was a name for what had happened to him. If he'd been less of an intelligent discussion partner, she could have thought he knew nothing at all, and there really were some people who were just that stupid, but...Auryn wasn't one of them.

And how in the world did he know about the Goblin King's Stealth Materia? To the best of _her_ knowledge, she was the only one who knew about that one. What circumstance in the future could have caused him to know it?

Pondering that would get her nowhere, so she turned her thoughts to the next point of interest and confusion: Kariya.

The man was being extremely open with the boy about a mass of things he should never have been telling anyone not in the know already. She knew the man liked company and liked to talk—the two of them had been able to have a few very pleasant discussions, but those never went into personal territory. Yet, with a boy he barely knew, Kariya was openly sharing details of his past which weren't really Auryn's business. He could have said he'd once had to steal to feed his family, then left it at that—all the rest hadn't been required, and normally, the man wouldn't have shared so much.

Thinking back on her own discussion with Auryn, Doriss realized she has _also_ said more about personal subjects than she'd intended, though less than Kariya had openly shared. After all, the attack on her was a public record and general knowledge to both the Turks and the Science Department—it wasn't even hard data to find. And yet, she also normally didn't speak so openly about it as she had with Auryn.

Did that mean Auryn was somehow—_forcing_ them to share personal information?

No, she didn't think it was a deliberate thing, but he had been subject to a good many experiments no one currently had any data on, and she knew very well Doctor Crescent would be keeping that data so tightly locked up no one would ever see it unless she handed it to them. However, it wouldn't be a far cry to say someone had been trying to create some sort of 'truth serum' to find out data from others which could make or break them. If that was the case, they all actually _needed_ to know who had held Auryn captive before he met too many people and found out too many personal details his original captors would be able to drag out of him later.

Had they _meant_ to let Auryn go or not?

Of course, if Auryn's genes could somehow compel people to tell him things they usually wouldn't, it would _also_ mean the function worked on his former captors, and Auryn actually likely knew a great deal about them which they didn't want known.

She frowned as she stared absently out the window in the Turks' main office, wondering if anyone had realized Auryn's body shifted and moved like a cat's. How she hated working the night shift—otherwise she'd have gladly spent longer with Auryn, just trying to puzzle out all of his oddities. In the case of a cat—she'd seen lithe and limber people before, but not someone whose bones were as loosely-jointed as a real cat's. How was that possible?

"Something bothering you?" a familiar voice asked, and she looked up to see Anki sitting across her desk from her in a chair she'd pulled over from a nearby, unoccupied desk. The brown haired, blue eyed woman often had a flat (or maybe 'calm' was the better word to use) personality, but she was a tactician as well, and had managed to succeed in many missions where no one else would have been able to. She mostly kept her hair boyishly short, wore the Turks' uniform properly, and her fingertips showed scarring from where she'd put matches and cigarettes out with her bare fingers.

With a sigh, Doriss asked, "Is there some particular reason the Guards and the Hounds all insist on tormenting one another's strays?"

"This is about Donnel, isn't it?" Anki asked shrewdly.

"Part of that and part of exactly what I asked," the younger woman replied dryly.

Doriss took a quick look around the office, noting (not for the first time) how the only Turks present were the Hounds. They had appropriated the Turks' official office, and the Guards used Lady Shinra's office as theirs. Even the Director's office had been appropriated by Verdot, rather than being used by Vincent, other than when Vincent needed to use the more unique features of their office floor. A few desks away, Reno was pouting in his seat, glaring at the folders in front of him, and most of the other Hounds' desks were occupied—Reno's was just the nearest to hers, of the Hounds' desks.

Pale haired Judet and red haired Cissnei were both working on the younger's computer as they worked out a report for a recent mission—they were even working late to finish it. Blond Emma flipped between several folders with an intense frown, obviously trying to figure something out before leaving. Brown haired Maur and Lakis were talking softly while they examined photos returned to them by field agents, though Lakis should also have been off-duty then. Of the two men, Lakis was a little younger but had been a Turk longer, and his major strengths were Magic and sheer memory recall—he was one of the very, very few Mages to have joined the Turks. Black haired Sirra had her feet on her desk as she read a file, and black haired Derin (who could have been mistaken for a Wutain at a glance) was checking data on several disks as he made notes in a file. The only ones not there were Balto and their two newest Rookies, Alvis and Percia, and that was because the three of them were training. Unless they had finished up and gone back to their rooms.

When Doriss' eyes returned to the older woman, Anki reached over to pick up a pen from the corner of Doriss' desk, then took the tape dispenser and started winding tape around the pen. Doriss watched in confusion as the older woman wound a fairly thick band of tape around the middle of the pen, and stared when Anki put the pen down in the middle of the desk.

"Why do we 'torment' them?" Anki asked quietly, and Doriss met her eyes. "Because both sides get a sense of power and control over the situation by doing so." She pointed at the taped pen and said, "That's what the subject of the tormenting gets—bound. Whoever put those binds on them most strongly is the one who has the most control over them. That's what Verdot has done to Donnel as well—that's why he keeps coming back to us, no matter how badly Verdot treats him. Because these binds, the binds of a torturer, are adhesive—they stick and don't let go."

Doriss stared at Anki in something like fascinated horror as several things suddenly came together in her mind, and she muttered, "Well, shit."

Raising a brow, the older woman asked, "This is about that new stray the Guards brought in, isn't it?"

"If what I—overheard—is true, we're in a lot more trouble than any of us realized, the Guards _and_ the Hounds," Doriss replied, feeling a little ill. "Because if this is true, his former captors will _always_ have more power over him than we will, and he apparently knows things he shouldn't actually know."

"How did you 'overhear' something like that?"

"Everyone forgets balconies exist, so they talk, and I'm surrounded by Guards."

Anki eyed her for a long moment, then picked up the tape-wrapped pen and Doriss' letter opener, then used the letter opener to slice through the tape. As the older Turk pulled the wound tape off the pen, she said, "So find a way to sever those ties. Cut them off."

"Would it be easier to replace them?" the younger Turk frowned.

"You already don't like what Verdot does to Donnel," Anki pointed out as she put the pen down and waved the curled tape in front of her face. "If you want to 'replace' the binds he has on him, you'd have to do worse than he already suffered, and by what Donnel said, I don't think anyone but Hojo would have the stomach for that. And Hojo would only have said 'stomach' for that if he found the boy to be 'an interesting specimen'. Also, that would have very little chance of working if he himself hasn't cut those ties to his former captors—if he doesn't have the will to defy them, even putting our own binds on him would only double the number he had and pull him in more than one direction. Since Donnel indicated he doesn't even have the will to defend himself, I find it unlikely that he's cut those ties, so the only option is to forcibly cut him free."

For a long moment, the two women traded look for look, then the blond sighed and said, "But cutting him free isn't easy, either, especially not with the Guards basically keeping him prisoner in his residence. And as things stand, the Hounds aren't really trust-worthy with him, either."

"There's one way to do it quickly," Anki commented.

"And I'm not about to do something which would probably be sadistic or masochistic or just cruel on the off-chance it'll work," Doriss answered dryly.

"If _that_ was all I managed to come up with, I wouldn't still be alive, because sheer recklessness would have gotten me killed," the older woman pointed out.

"But your solution to almost everything is 'cause pain'," the blond answered, gaze vaguely bemused.

"To myself to strengthen and desensitize myself," the brown haired woman replied flatly. "I wouldn't have bothered to take you to the Hospital Wing and find out if you were all right if that was my response to 'almost everything'. Other people can die and it doesn't bother me—I can even kill them without feeling anything, even children—unless someone I have...some sort of bond with dies. However, unless someone is looking for a way to do what I'm doing, I don't want to see others in pain. Just to be clear on that."

Doriss blinked at her a few times, then sighed and nodded. "Sorry. I'm really on-edge lately."

The older woman sat back in her seat and asked, "So what caused it? Yes, the new stray, but this 'on-edge' state of yours began before they brought him here."

With another small sigh, the younger Turk shook her head and explained, "It's nothing tangible, just a...feeling that something bad is going to happen, something we're currently not ready for. It's being very persistent."

Rising, Anki said, "So take your mind off it by finding out what you can about the 'stray'."

Anki moved the chair back to where she'd taken if from, then returned to her desk to start putting things away, even as Sirra made an irritated noise and got up to march angrily into Verdot's office. Everyone else was still working, except for the ever-so-easily-bored Reno, who had lounged back in his seat and was holding his PHS in front of his face as he typed something into what was probably a text message to Alvis. Doriss found the sight amusing, but when she realized the most obvious place to start looking for data on Auryn was probably Doctor Crescent's office in the city, she rose and moved over to his desk, waiting for him to finish the message.

When he did and lowered his PHS to eye her, he asked, "Yeah, Dor?"

"Care to create a distraction for me while I infiltrate the 'good Doctor's' city office?" she asked in amusement.

"...Lookin' for anythin' special, yo?" the red haired eighteen-year-old asked, sitting up more alertly.

"First, more general things. Much like our monthly raid on her office. Maybe doing it out of schedule will—yield something more useful."

"Limits?"

"None. Well, no—don't do lasting damage to the city structure." Doriss felt she had to say that because he actually _had_ put a hole in a city street on the Upper Plate once, and had dropped some debris on the Slums by extension.

"I ain't Kariya, yo!" he snorted, and she gave an answering one, but then he shoved himself to his feet and agreed, "Lead on, yo! Anythin' ta get outta this office!"

Both chuckled and left the room, heading into the city while Doctor Crescent was busy in her Shinra office instead.

FoWD

Lucrecia was _tired_.

Auryn's genetic data was such a mess she almost didn't know where to begin, and now she had to figure out a way to move Genesis to her care—something even the President would be resistant to—if she wanted any hope to reunite him with his father.

"Are you feeling all right, Lucrecia?" Vincent asked her suddenly, making her look up from the papers she had in her lap. She was sitting in one of the chairs in the sitting room—or the Guards' break room—Lady Shinra had turned the antechamber of her office into two days before she was due to meet with Auryn again.

While Vincent and Lady Shinra were pretty much fixtures in the main office, all the other Turks who qualified as Guards tended to use that as their office and worked independently from their rooms otherwise. How the arrangement managed to function, Lucrecia still hadn't figured out, but the fact was that it _did_ function, and did so oddly well. Right then, Vincent was standing at the door to the sitting room, gazing at her with some worry in his eyes.

"Sorry, I just—have more than one mess to sort out, and no real starting points yet," she admitted. "Is Janelle free now?"

"She is," he agreed. "_Can_ you do anything for him?"

"Which him?" the Doctor asked in amusement as she rose.

"Auryn," Vincent clarified in mild amusement.

"I can, but how much is the question. And we now have a much bigger problem to deal with, too," she explained as she stepped into the main office. She saw Janelle's keen gaze on her, so moved over to sit in one of the chairs across from the older woman.

"What kind of problem do you mean?" Lady Shinra asked in a quiet tone Lucrecia knew meant she already knew she wouldn't like the answer.

Pausing, the Doctor debated the best way to explain things to someone who wasn't a scientist, then finally said, "When most well-known scientists know their field of study well, they tend to leave behind unique—details—which indicate the work is theirs, almost like a kind of fingerprint. It shows less in non-biological experiments, but in biology and genetics, that 'fingerprinting' becomes much more obvious and reliable. I do it, Hojo does it, Hollander does it—Hellfire, even _Rayleigh_ does it when she's assigned to a biological or genetic-based experiment. After looking more closely at Auryn's genetic data, I found two distinct 'fingerprints'. One is a complete unknown." She stopped there, not wanting to proceed.

"And the other?" Janelle pressed, gaze grim.

"It's distinctly Hojo's," Lucrecia sighed. Both Janelle's and Vincent's eyes widened in horror.

"You're saying the moment the Hounds find out that detail, they can tell it to Hojo—likely will do so—and he'd be able to claim Auryn, even if he's never even laid eyes on the boy before?" Janelle assessed, and Lucrecia nodded. The blond's eyes closed as she released a deep sigh. After a pause, Lady Shinra asked, without opening her eyes, "Do you have _any_ idea how Hojo's 'fingerprint' ended up in him if Hojo hasn't met him?"

"Like the detail he could give about Tseng's charge and the Commander, it would imply his former captors have far more details on us and our operations than we could have ever guessed," Lucrecia replied. "Because it's only really possible if they intimately know Hojo's 'fingerprint' and copied it deliberately."

"So, we keep that detail out of the Hounds' hands at all costs," Vincent commented as he sat on the corner of Janelle's desk.

"What other data do you have?" Lady Shinra asked of the younger woman across from her.

"I made a list of things I found wrong," Lucrecia replied, handing the papers she had with her to the woman. "His whole genetic structure is such a mess because of the various combinations of experiments that it'll take me weeks of study before I'll be able to work on anything to start fixing it, and months to figure out enough to fix it as much as it can be. What puzzles me the most is how so many of his cells are showing cellular-level physical damage, which is normally rare. Yes, Genesis has it, but that's due to the genetic damage he suffered, not actual physical damage, as from a regular knife or whip—Auryn's damage is the result of physical attacks with normal items."

"Could they have been something like—maybe those new laser weapons?" Vincent offered.

"I thought of that, and no. Well, some of it is, but there are distinct differences between the cellular damage caused by laser damage and the majority of the cellular damage Auryn is showing. His cells also aren't 'dying off', they're just adapting to working at reduced functionality, and his saving grace is his Mako infusions. While I normally wouldn't recommend this option, I may need to introduce a small quantity of J-cells into his body to repair that damage, as they've been shown to repair damage of that type. For that matter, the J-cells may even fix or align some of the other damage to his genetics," the Doctor explained.

"Suggest the option, but don't make the decision without his approval," Lady Shinra replied. "Give him all the data, anything he asks for, and let him decide. If he knows all the good and the bad which could come of that and agrees to an infusion, then you have permission to do so, but otherwise, you'll have to work out the issue without J-cell support."

Vincent pulled out his PHS suddenly and opened it to read something, then sighed. "Apparently Doriss 'overheard' something about Auryn."

"And?" Janelle asked with a wary frown.

"So far, she doesn't seem to want to turn him over to the Hounds, but she seems to be aware of some minor details. Much of that notably all the Hounds 'know' because Donnel told them, but she's also aware, to some degree, of the 'extra' knowledge he has," Vincent explained, sending a short reply to the message, then putting his PHS away. "At this point, I'd rather not antagonize her or the Hounds, especially not Anki, so we'll leave things be for now and see what she does."

"She's a tactician, Vincent," Janelle replied in irritation. "Giving her that opening could well mean she'll find him and hijack him from us before we have any idea he's gone."

"If she intended to do so, she'd probably already have done it," Vincent answered in annoyance.

"She doesn't know where he is right now," the blond woman replied.

"She lives in the apartment right above his," the black haired man retorted with irritation of his own. Lady Shinra's eyes widened in surprise. "If she was going to hijack him, she'd have _done_ it already."

Lucrecia, who had watched the argument like a spectator at a sports match, suddenly looked amused as she commented into the silence, "If that's all resolved now, could I offer something?" When the other two looked at her, she said, "Vincent, I think she may have some valuable insight into his situation if you feel she _is_ so aware of him. _Because_ she's a tactician, she may have seen things we've missed."

"I'm not inclined to make her aware we realize she's most likely met him," Vincent replied in a dry tone. "She's prone to skipping out and taking anyone she thinks is in danger with her if she feels like she's backed into a corner, and I'd rather not be the one to back her into a corner. She'll tell us when she's ready—that I _do_ know about her. If the trend holds true, she'll probably tell us before she'll tell the Hounds."

A silence fell, then Lady Shinra sighed and agreed, "Very well. For now, we do nothing about Doriss. You're going to be meeting Auryn again tomorrow, yes, Lucrecia?"

"I am," she agreed. "I'll speak with him about—all of that list, and about the possible J-cell infusion, as well as what I can do for him right now. Unless you have questions on that list, we're done now, because I haven't worked out enough of what to do about the Commander to update you on that, yet."

With a deep sigh, Lady Shinra waved the younger woman away. "I'll go through this list and take note of any questions, but unfortunately, I don't have time to do it now."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," Lucrecia replied as she rose and left the office.


	10. List of Current Turks (V4-FoWD)

**List of Current Turks in Fates of Worlds—Dimensions**

These are the current Turks in late July/early August of the year 0000 specifically for FoWD, by code name, primary weapon, age, Rank, general hiring date, hometown, birth name, and faction, and for the OC's, a brief description. This version of the list I mostly did to give an overview of the OC's in the Turks, so those OC's are listed first—they're the 'old hands' who had previously just been alluded to. Now that pretty much all of them have been 'seen' in the story (other than Percia, who isn't in the list because I'm keeping their identity a surprise, but they aren't a new character to FFVII), now seemed like a good time to include this. In this case, 'Eden' hasn't joined the Turks or re-written their Rank system, so these are the original Rank system names I'm using.

Also, Elena obviously isn't a Turk yet, and Vincent is in the list of BC Turks, since he's known in the story line already.

So you're aware of this, when I was trying to create these OC's (some time ago, long before I started writing Dimensions), my method ended up taking characters from other games/movies/books/animes/mangas. In other words, if any of you think these people resemble someone in particular from another series (many of them gender-swapped), you probably do. Anyone wanting to know exactly who these characters were based on can leave a review or send me a PM requesting the data, since that's not relevant directly to the story.

If people want me to, later in the story, I'll do an updated list which will include Percia and anyone else applicable.

The most important part of this list is the data for the OC's, followed by the first two (bold) items in the BC Turk data, as the capitalized primary weapons indicate their default 'name' in Before Crisis for those who aren't familiar with the BC Turks (though I would hope these ones are familiar by now).

_**List Data Order:**_

_**Code Name, Primary Weapon**__, Age, Rank, Hiring Date, Hometown, Birth Name, Faction_

__Original Character (OC) Turks, the 'old hands':__

_**Anki, revolver**__, 33, Omega, 1987, Cosmo Canyon, Kirima Ilan, Hound_

_Brown hair, blue eyes, burn scars on her fingers_

_**Eonna, gun/all weapons**__, 31, Omega, 1988, Nibelheim, Triana Gideon, Guard_

_Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, wears a black tank top under her suit jacket_

_**Terri, whip**__, 32, Omega, 1989, Bone Village, Yuri Terron, Guard_

_Brown hair, hazel eyes, wears a brown fedora_

_**Sirra, two guns**__, 27, All-Time, 1991, Banora, Ratri Basir, Hound_

_Black hair, amber eyes, half-Wutain_

_**Lenno, katana**__, 29, All-Time, 1991, Fort Condor, Arlen Zeno, Guard_

_Dark auburn hair, light brown eyes, soft-soled white shoes_

_**Doriss, twin daggers**__, 25, Crystal, 1993, Midgar, Coriss Doran, Hound_

_Blond hair, blue eyes, thigh and waist holsters for 'grappling hook daggers'_

_**Verde, scythe**__, 28, Crystal, 1993, Midgar Slums, Oliver Wade, Guard_

_Blond hair, brown eyes, nothing else (physical) of note_

_**Donnel, martial arts**__, 25, Crystal, 1994, Rocket Town area*, Eldon Nelson, Guard/both_

_Red-blond hair, red eyes, nothing else (physical) of note_

_**Viney, rapier**__, 22, Legend, 1995, Icicle Inn, __Vidar Kearney, Guard_

_Dark brown hair, green eyes, nothing else (physical) of note_

_**Lakis, magic**__, 23, Galaxy, 1995, Modeoheim/Midgar, Makis Latham, Hound_

_Curly, brown hair, brown eyes, many Materia_

_**Derin, boomerang**__, 23, Legend, 1995, Costa del Sol, Peder Lachlain, Hound_

_Black hair, brown eyes, could be mistaken for a Wutain_

_**Ansha, martial arts**__, 24, Legend, 1996, Midgar Slums, Janan Yasha, Guard_

_Black, spiked hair, cobalt blue eyes, half-Wutain-ish_

__Before Crisis Characters:__

**Vincent Valentine ****(Director)****, gun****, 50, Omega, 1960's, unknown, Guard**

**Verdot Pereld ****(Second in Command)****, gun**, 48, Omega, **1960's**, Kalm, Hound

**Rude, martial arts**, 30+, Legend, 1994, unknown (maybe Costa del Sol?), Blade Rusk, Guard

**Balto, Katana**, 22, Galaxy, 1996 February, Gongaga, Tomas Balfour, Hound

**Tseng, gun**, 19, Crystal, 1996 November, Wutai, Ren Kaoin, Guard

**Kariya (Legend), bombs**, 40+, Crystal, 1997 February, Junon, Sidney Dalton, Guard

**Reno, electromagnetic rod (EMR)**, 18, Legend, 1998 April, unknown (probably Midgar Slums), Noah Reid, Hound

**Maur, Martial Arts (Male)**, 25, Grand Master, 1998 September, Costa del Sol, Urban Rehema, Hound

**Judet, Martial Arts (Female)**, 24, Grand Master, 1998 October, Icicle Inn, Harriet Judson, Hound

**Cissnei, Shuriken**, 15, Master, 1999 March 23, unknown/Midgar orphanage, Neirine Cissero, Hound

**Illis, Knife**, 20, Black, 0000 January 22, Corel, Lisa Ilya, Guard

**Emma, Gun**, 18, Platinum, 0000 March 21, Midgar Slums, Maria Emerio, Hound

**Ruluf, Two Guns**, 21, Member, 0000 June 10, Midgar Slums (Sector 6), Russel Thorluf, Guard

**Freyra, Shotgun**, 21, Member, 0000 June 17, Mideel, Kara Freyne, Guard

**Alvis, Rod**, 18, Rookie, 0000 July 4, Midgar Slums, Dennis Alvar, Hound

**Quis, Nunchaku**, 18, 'Trainee' about to be hired, 0000 August 9, Bone Village, Travis Quaten, Hound

End List

*When Donnel came out of the Rocket Town area, it didn't have that name, and 'Rocket Town' has actually only very recently been named.

Is there anything else you want to see on this list? If so, please let me know so I can add it!


	11. 10-Deliberate Damage

Deliberate Damage

Morning felt like it came all too soon for Auryn, especially since he woke to the presence of someone who wasn't Kariya. He tensed and searched out the door to Kariya's room, only to see Tseng give him an absent wave as he passed through the room and out into the living room, a bag on his arm.

Auryn had to just stare after him in shock at that, wondering what the man was doing and what was going on. Normally, Kariya would have woken him in time for breakfast, but...

Noises he associated with kitchen sounds reached him, so he sighed and pushed himself to a sitting position. Looking down at himself, he wondered what Kariya and the others thought of him sleeping in his clothes, rather than the night clothes they had gotten for him. It had become a habit after the number of times he'd been attacked and forced to run in the middle of the night to hopefully avoid capture and torture. At least if he was wearing normal clothes when he ran, no one would really notice him and wouldn't have anything to report to people like the Turks.

But was Tseng _really cooking_ for him? Really? Tseng? Cooking?

After another moment, he got up to change and tend his needs, then made his way into the living room so he could look over at the kitchen. Yes, Tseng was cooking, some sort of Wutain noodle dish, by the looks of it.

He stayed at the door to his room for several minutes, just watching the man warily, then finally got up his courage to comment, "I didn't know you could cook."

"Most don't," Tseng agreed. "I don't even think Verdot or Vincent know. The only ones I've ever cooked for are Aeris and Ansha."

"...And now me," Auryn finished, voice flat.

Tseng looked over his shoulder at him to ask in reply, "Why shouldn't I?"

"If you don't share that skill with others, why are you with me?"

"I choose who I share it with. There's no other reason."

The Wutain turned back to the stove as Auryn sighed, then gave his head a shake. "But why _me_?"

"Because you need something to separate the 'me' you knew previously from who I really am, and this was the most likely thing I could think of to start giving you points of separation between us. Also, if you _had_ already been aware of this, I'd have been ready to just give up—whoever had you would then have been so privy to all our personal lives that there would have been no way to counter them," Tseng told him.

With a sigh, Auryn rubbed his head and asked, "And what do you think the Lifestream is privy to?"

"What does the Lifestream have to do with this?" Tseng frowned, still focused on the meal.

"Do you think there are things the Lifestream doesn't know about our lives? Maybe that's a question you should ask Aeris, too," the blond told him. "Because she'll tell you the Lifestream knows everything, and only chooses not to share most of it unless someone asks her."

"Aeris wouldn't tell any personal information without a very good reason."

"The Lifestream is a 'her'. Hasn't Aeris ever told you that?"

For a long time, Tseng was quiet while he worked, then he huffed a small chuckle and said, "You must be feeling at least a little more relaxed around me to argue the point so intently." The words would have made Auryn blush if he'd been capable of achieving such a thing by that point. However, he wasn't due to no longer having actual blood to bring that color to his cheeks—they only felt hot when he would have been blushing. "Aeris and I have never particularly discussed the Lifestream's gender or what it knows, as I was under the impression that only she—well, her people—can hear it."

"...You don't really know much about genetics, do you?" Auryn asked tiredly, moving over to the table to sit. Before the Wutain could answer, he asked, "So Kariya just let you take over making breakfast for me today?"

"Very early this morning, he was called to do a mission Vincent truly feels only he will be able to do—or likely Anki, but Anki would be more likely to decline on principle," Tseng replied. "He'll most likely be away for today and tomorrow, so I've mainly been left in charge of you. Your doctor's appointment is tomorrow afternoon. Verde and Ansha will be by as well today, Ansha partially to work on this side of the door she's trying to put in and Verde only for a visit. Donnel may visit, too."

Auryn could have said a lot about someone being 'left in charge' of him, but it wasn't worth arguing over and possibly causing another round of torture over not needing a keeper. He knew they all kept saying they wouldn't hurt him, but so had the others in the past, their other selves in those other dimensions—yet things had pretty much never gone well in those, they had never kept their word. As such, the argument wasn't worth having. He also had learned that people's terminology was completely screwed up in ways most of them didn't know, only because of habit. Trying to tell them the implications of what they were saying was foolish and usually just got them more angry...Like how people who were told they should correct their spelling would begin writing (or typing) with many more very deliberate spelling errors.

As a result, he just sighed.

"If you don't like something I said, you should tell me," Tseng said dryly over his shoulder.

"Why? It's not worth fighting over and won't change anything anyway."

"You make a lot of assumptions like that."

"And haven't found an exception yet."

"Really? Not even once?"

At that, Auryn couldn't answer, because there _had_ been some who had upheld it, they had just been very rare. He was reacting to the common behaviors he had witnessed, not to the rare alternate options which had also happened.

Normally, the person he was talking to at the time something like that came up would push him to give an answer or gloat over being right that some hadn't tortured him. However, Tseng had still said absolutely nothing about it by the time he put the meal on the table for the two of them. He waited while Auryn eyed the food suspiciously for a minute before deciding it hadn't been—tampered with—and when Auryn took the first mouthful was also when the Wutain did. Nothing was wrong with the food, despite it having been in Tseng's hands before reaching him.

"Did I ever kill you by poisoning your food?" Tseng asked in something like mild amusement.

Shaking his head, Auryn replied so softly Tseng almost didn't hear him, "There were other things you put in my food and drinks which were a lot worse than a poison which would have killed me."

For a moment, the Wutain eyed him sadly, then gave a small sigh and said, "The more I hear about those other versions of me, the more I have to wonder about how hard they worked to vilify me in particular. They made me into your worst torturer—other than maybe the scientists—didn't they?"

"...They did," the blond agreed with another small sigh. "A couple were sort of...just neutral to me, I guess. There was...one version of you...I mean, besides the first one...who tried to help me, take care of me. The stone on his head was Summon Materia red, but he never showed or told me what that meant."

Tseng blinked, then blinked again. "There was nothing 'different' about my actions or abilities, even though it was red?" Again, Auryn shook his head, and Tseng gave a small smile. "That's something they don't know, then, even though it really wouldn't have been hard to find out. All they would have needed to do was pay attention to 'rumors' and ask questions in Wutai."

A sudden memory of Kunzel caused him to give a faint smile as he replied, "People who are either paranoid or bent on revenge rarely do what's practical."

The older man blinked and said, "You're quoting Second Class Kunzel Tarins."

"Yes." There was no point in him trying to hide that.

"How well did you know him?"

"Reasonably. He's one of the few who was apparently thinking logically enough in every scenario to decide torture wouldn't get him anywhere, and neither would hatred or suspicion."

"That sounds like the way Kunzel intrinsically reacts to everything, yes."

"...Did you ever think he has a point?"

"If only the world was such a simple place."

"It only isn't because you're making it complicated when it's not."

Silence fell as Tseng stared at him in shock for a minute before finally sighing and shaking his head. He said nothing further as they finished eating, then asked, "What things in here did you want to see if I could find a replacement for?"

Auryn obediently showed him the Wutain-style things he would have liked his own version of, and Tseng wrote them down in a small notebook he'd apparently brought with him. It didn't take them very long to make the trek, then Tseng sat in the living room and took some time to think about the things on the list as he made notes by each one. Not being able to deal with any more of Tseng's company right then, Auryn hid in his room and curled up in bed with one of the books he'd borrowed from Kariya. For awhile, nothing further happened, until Tseng's PHS rang, and soon after, he passed through Auryn's room to get to Kariya's apartment.

Not long after, Verde stepped into the room with a smile, followed by an intent Donnel and Tseng, then by Ansha, whom the Wutain led through the bedroom and into the living room as she carted a fair-sized engineer's toolkit with her. She gave him a smile and wave on the way through, but didn't stop there. Donnel sat beside Auryn on the bed and just peered at him for a few long moments before slowly giving his head a shake.

"Saying nothing won't help," the red haired young man stated simply. The words made Verde blink and Auryn give a small sigh.

"I'm doomed if I do and damned if I don't," the younger blond replied.

As Verde opened his mouth with a small, confused frown, Donnel gave a faint, wry smile and told him, "I used to think of it like that, in exactly those terms, too. I'm telling you, as someone who used to be in that same head-space, that you _need_ to force yourself to speak to these people, no matter how much your instincts scream at you to say nothing. You won't break free of what was done to you if you don't—you'll be letting your pain and fear—and them by extension—control you."

"...Doesn't Ve—rdot do that to you, too?" Auryn asked softly.

"You mean order me to tell him things?" Donnel asked. When the younger blond nodded, Donnel gave a small, smirk-like smile. "I'm a very carefully crafted double spy which both Vincent and Verdot are aware of and play off one another rather frequently. I agreed to cultivate or keep certain of my old behaviors to best fill the role while letting both sides force me not to reveal certain data to the other. Of course, when one side _wants_ something to become known to the other—_I'm_ the way for them to set up joint operations without anyone commonly knowing that fact."

Auryn gave a small frown and said, "But that first day, in the Lady's office..."

"My perpetual bad reaction to forcibly being given orders, you mean?" Donnel asked curiously. The younger man gave a slight nod, so he explained, "Activating an automatic hypnosis which modifies one's memory is never pleasant, and depending on how much my memory is being modified by a particular order, I may actually become violently ill. I know, by my reaction, that I was told to forget, change, or add something to my memory, but I can't tell you a damned thing about what the change _was_."

"...And you actually agreed to do something like that while you were in your right mind?" Verde asked with a look almost like he was constipated.

"Yes," Donnel agreed, turning to look at the older Turk in amusement. "It was me or Tseng because we were both saved by both Verdot and Vincent—technically, we could have chosen either or neither of them. I had the basic behaviors they could play on already while Tseng didn't, so it was just easier for me to be cultivated for it while Tseng was still at the Academy. And I preferred I be the one to take the position, rather than having them try to train Tseng to it—he wouldn't be who he is now if he _had_."

"...Is that why they took longer to allocate you to one side or the other?" Verde asked with a sudden realization. At Donnel's nod, he held a hand to his face and muttered, "They set us up themselves, the fucking morons..."

"They gave us some way to bypass the division," Donnel replied dryly.

The two just stared at one another for a few minutes while Auryn tried to temper the headache Donnel's words had brought on.

"You really are morons for not just working together..." he sighed at last. The other two men both stared at him in surprise, but he rolled onto his side and ignored them, so they traded looks and headed out into the living room to see how Ansha and Tseng were doing.

Most of the rest of the day was 'busy' (there were almost always people there) without it directly relating to him. The following day was similar until Ansha and Tseng took him down to Lucrecia's office in the city for his appointment. When he first walked in, she mainly just did a general check-up, and only after she'd taken the notes on changes to his general health did she sit down with him to have a serious discussion. She also had a very thick sheaf of notes in her lap as she faced him with clear worry and sadness in her gaze.

"All right, so now we can go over everything I've found," she told him. "First, I've got your first try of metal and mineral supplements for you, and we'll see how things go for awhile. From there, everything else becomes genetic in some form or another. Should I start with the thing creating the most problems for you in your day-to-day living?"

"...You mean my emotional instability?" he asked tentatively, picking at the hem of the cloth over his lap.

"Yes," she agreed. He gave a small nod, so she said, "I'm aware that there was a time when scientists played around with genetic splicing of human and animal DNA, but all of Shinra's scientists stopped bothering once they had a more versatile genetic source in a being called Jenova. Apparently, your captors decided to play with more of that animal-human splicing in you, and you have the distinctive traits of both feline and bird genetics. Normally, those two don't go together—other than in monsters built that way from the start—creating issues in adaption between the mammal and bird species. The main type of cat you were based on looks to be a small cat which lives in rugged climates and likes to swim, and the bird seems to belong to the crane family. As much of a problem as those are, the one doing it also had the gall to use female genetics—the cat especially shows that way, and your body can't tell if it's supposed to be a human, a cat, a bird, a male, or a female. All at once."

She paused as he just stared at her with wide eyes. "What that means for you is that you have very sturdy but light bones and many double-jointed body parts which no human would normally have double-jointed. You'd be able to fit through any space your head can fit through and turn your limbs in directions other humans can't. What I need to do is to try to bring those various genetics into some sort of agreement with one another, which will require genetic therapy and most likely the introduction of some small portion of Griffin genetics to 'teach' your existing genes how to meld and work together. I'm still determining how to meld your male and female aspects, as that's more difficult than balancing the alternate genetics themselves. Following so far?"

"Yeah...Some asshole decided it would be a hoot to splice female animal genetics into me, resulting in my body not knowing which way is up," Auryn replied, pulling a disgusted face. Lucrecia had to give a little chuckle at the phrasing, but then he went on with, "Do you think there's anything in the Shapeshift Materia which would help fix that—male versus female problem?"

"...Why do you know about it?" the woman asked in surprise.

"One of the scientists had one, and the Emperor of Wutai has one," the blond said, staring down at his knees. He wasn't going to tell them he had one in his 'arsenal', nor was he going to say he'd found out the hard way that Tseng _also_ had one. (1)

Maybe if he were to use his own Shapeshift Materia on himself to make himself a woman, Tsengs in other dimensions may not react so badly to him meeting Aeris...?

The realization of that particular idea annoyed him—he should have been able to come up with it long ago! Why hadn't he...?

For a moment, the doctor was quiet, but then she said, "Very well. In that case, there's the possibility the Materia might help, assuming we can find and use a copy to test things. Otherwise, I'll have to work out an appropriate hormone therapy once we've done what we can for your animal genetics, and everything _else_ that's wrong. Speaking of other things that are wrong, you have literal cellular damage which somehow resulted from your having been struck by physical weapons. That means many of your cells have permanent partial damage, and I'll most likely have to work out a way to re-grow the cells without that damage. The other option would be to use J-cells, or Jenova's cells, in a very small quantity to revitalize the cells with that type of damage. Would you be willing to undergo such a procedure?"

For a moment, the blond sixteen-year-old tensed and froze, then gasped out, "Not a chance are you putting that _parasite's_ genes in me while she's still aware!" His eyes then went wide and afraid as he curled into a ball, expecting blows for such a refusal. Still, the one thing he'd somehow always been able to avoid was having Jenova's cells put into him, and he _really_ didn't want that now.

He flinched as a hand touched his head, remembering heavy, painful hands striking him there, but then slowly realized he felt no pain and the hand was just gently resting on the side of his head, above his ear. He flashed back that time to the very first dimension, when Rude had been a father figure to him and had often rested a hand on his head to ground and calm him. The polar opposites of the two memories brought tears to his eyes and he began crying quietly before he could stop himself. Damned those scientists for screwing with his genetics and hormones, and damned all the people he'd cared about so much for turning around and torturing him!

When the tears calmed, Lucrecia told him gently, "If you're not comfortable with that, I won't use her cells to work with your genes. It's not necessary—it would have made things easier, but there _are_ other ways to accomplish the same results. I take it that means I don't need to explain what Jenova is or the good and bad of having her cells?"

"No. I probably know more about Jenova than _you_ do," Auryn answered tiredly, just staying in the position he was in, effectively laying on the tops of his own thighs while doubled over on the examining table.

With a small sigh, the woman told him, "Then we'll move on to the next thing I found of note. This one is more problematic to others around you than to yourself, because apparently there is some sort of—addition to your genetics which I've never personally seen before. The one thing I've heard multiple times from the people around you is that they feel 'compelled' to share very personal information with you. I can track everything else except that, so my assumption is that the added unusual gene acts as a prompt to cause others to over-share, essentially allowing you to gather data you never would be privy to otherwise. I currently have no way to do anything about it other than to warn people to pay attention to what they're saying when talking with you."

Auryn just sighed at the words. Really? They were going to blame people sharing things with him on his _genetics_? Mind you, he really had no idea 'how' Minerva was trying to make things go in his best interests, and maybe that genetic modification was one of Minerva's attempts to help him?

"Well, that leads us to the next set of things," Lucrecia said after a few moments of silence.

Wait, there was _more_?

"I'm calling it a 'set' because there seems to be some sort of tie-in from one to the next, even though there are obvious indications the two scientists involved were both working, almost alternately, on this set. From what I can tell, they were trying to do things like enhance your senses, make you more resistant to damage, give you new abilities, and enhance the ones you have. However, most of those have had some sort of negative impact on you due to either them not having worked out well or having interacted poorly with existing experiments in that line. Oddly enough, none of them have interacted poorly with the other experiments I've noted, but they were a great deal more likely to create a problem elsewhere if a certain enhancement had already been given in some way.

"For example, your cat genetics have enhanced your reflexes beyond human limits, so when one of the scientists tried to further enhance your reflexes, it ended up making your skin much more sensitive to touch than it would usually be—nerve hypersensitivity—and the only reason you aren't living in agony is because the Mako in your body is undoing the damage as fast as it happens. Your basic genetics show as what I associate with genius-level mental abilities, but one of them tried to enhance your mental abilities further, and instead created blockages in your nervous system and synapse stimulation," the woman explained.

Auryn lifted his head and looked at her in confusion as he asked, "Are you saying they made me stupider instead of smarter?"

"They didn't affect your existing intelligence or knowledge," Lucrecia told him calmly. "They made it more difficult for you to process new data and to transmit orders from your mind to the rest of your body."

"...Oh...Then...maybe that's why it took me so long to come up with solutions to some things when I'd normally have gotten them much sooner," Auryn muttered, putting his head back down.

"Possibly," the Doctor agreed. "The complete list includes modification to your five senses, the noted attempt at damage reduction, reflexes, and mental ability, resistance to illness and disease, and abstract mental ability—the last two of which seem to have been the only ones which mostly worked correctly. The second last had a few glitches and have been behind a number of incidences where you felt you couldn't eat or became ill while doing so. The last—would normally apply to your creative aspect, things like appreciation or ability for music, art, poetry, and other similar things. I would encourage you to test yourself in those aspects of the world to see if any of them happens to be accessible to you now when it wasn't before."

"...Why should I do that?" the blond asked in confusion, not lifting his head. He was a _scientist_, not a foolish, whimsical artist!

"It would be a way for you to express your feelings without necessarily having to resort to panic—or other emotional—attacks," she answered simply. "Regardless, all the rest of the items I've indicated are problematic for what damage they've done in place of what they should have done, and I'm going to be working out more genetic therapy for those once the immediate emotional imbalance is dealt with."

For a minute, Auryn was silent, then he sighed. "So...how soon are any of these therapies you want to do going to start?"

"Not immediately. You have a few weeks before worrying about it," Lucrecia replied in mild amusement. "I need the time to work out the best place to start, as well as my method. So far, I'm anticipating either something painless or something I can sedate you for so you won't feel it, but I'm still working on that. In the latter case, though, you'll be asleep for a long time—probably a few days—because I won't be able to stop and start in this situation."

"Oh." The blond paused, then asked hopefully, "Can I go now?" He still didn't like hospitals or doctors. After what Hojo and Fuhito had done to him, he probably never would.

With a small, amused chuckle, the woman agreed. "Yes, we're done now. I'm going to get in touch with you later to let you know when our next meeting will be."

"...Thanks."

She then left the room so he could get dressed again, and he was soon on his way back to the Shinra building with Tseng and Ansha.

**Notes:**

(1) Some of you might remember Eden and Godo discussing the Shapeshift Materia in Salvation's Hands and/or Fates of Worlds. At the time, I noted there now being four copies of Shapeshift, and how Fuhito, Godo, and Eden had three of them, but never stated who has the fourth, just asked readers to guess. No one did (or if they did, they didn't say so), so now, I'm clarifying that Tseng has the final Shapeshift Materia. In all dimensions. Period.


	12. 11-Nightmares

Nightmares

By the time Auryn was done with the doctor, he wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone else. Thankfully, the Turks with him were just as inclined to silence as he was at that time of the day, which was just before supper, so he didn't have to try to explain anything to them then. Back at the Shinra building, they also stayed in Kariya's apartment rather than following him into his, which he was extremely grateful for. He was tired, but despite that, sleep didn't come easily, not even after he ate something so he wasn't trying to sleep while he was starving. As a result, he spent most of the next day sleeping, and the next three days after that, he spent largely in Kariya and Tseng's company. While Doriss hadn't dropped in to talk with him again, she'd given him a few indications of her presence.

It was in the early morning hours between the fourth and fifth days since his meeting with Lucrecia when he heard something which made him sit bolt upright, tense and ready to move as he stared at the door leading to the living room.

Soon after, the door was opened a bit and a familiar voice said quietly, "It's just me."

"Doriss," he sighed suddenly. "Why are you here? And why at this time?"

She opened the door and leaned on the jamb, her full Turk uniform obvious despite the darkness in the room. "I just got off my shift. And I wanted to know if you're aware of something called 'Leviathan's Blessing'?" Doriss asked, gaze on him intently. She really wasn't surprised he had sensed her and had woken so suddenly—Donnel had done the same all the time back a few years, and occasionally still did.

"It's a trend of someone living a certain length of time into the future, then suddenly being shoved back into their younger body, all those memories intact. It usually results from some Summon or deity trying to undo something highly damaging to the world. No, I don't have that, even though there are some superficial similarities," Auryn replied, his tone sounding annoyed. "Though in a way, you wouldn't be completely wrong. That's what you managed to get out of my discussion with Kariya, isn't it?"

Doriss had tensed at the direct address, and he could feel her eyes on him in shock. After a minute, though, she released a gust of air and gave a small chuckle. "You're feeling more comfortable around me to behave like that. So, if it's 'superficially similar', can I assume you know quite a bit about what will happen in the future?"

He sighed and moved to sit against the headboard of his bed. "That's—variable. Everything which changes at any given point in time can completely change the path the future will take. It could be something as small as a certain person being in a different location during a particular event, or something as major as an event not even happening because of small changes made before it. For example—how much would my situation be different if you were dead instead of here to talk with me right now?"

The older woman stood there silently for a few minutes as she assessed what he was saying, then asked, "Are you saying knowledge of the future is invalid and irrelevant?"

"No. I'm saying it's a guide, not an absolute," Auryn answered tiredly.

"Which means...?"

"It's not written in stone. In this timeline, it hasn't happened yet, so it can be changed—knowing the future gives us the chance to _change_ it, but changing one thing _will_ change others as well, and we then have to also deal with those changes. Sometimes, some event _will_ happen—if a volcano is going to erupt, there's no actual way to stop that _event_. What we _can_ change is the extent of the damage and the lives lost in the eruption, and foreknowledge of the eruption will allow us to evacuate the towns in its blast zone to spare their lives. The original timeline, in which nothing had changed, would have led to all of those people dying. But by saving all those people, the path of the future has now been vastly changed, especially the further into the future all those people live. The original timeline had no accounting for all those lives now involved in the world, so anyone working from it has to scrap all of that and start from scratch."

Again, Doriss was quiet for several minutes before finally saying, "I had never once thought of how complex something like Leviathan's Blessing could be for those who live through it. Again on the basis of similarities, even if what you have isn't that, you would have to have some sort of purpose for the knowledge you've accumulated. What event, or events, do you need to change?"

Cold amusement came off the younger blond in waves for a few moments before Auryn admitted, "There are several very specific things which need to be changed or the world is doomed. My word isn't going to be enough, so until I have proof to give you—I can't. Saying anything before I can show you evidence...Let's just say I'm not eager for another round of torture, regardless of my resistance, or lack thereof, to said torture."

She rubbed her forehead tiredly as she muttered, "No one is going to torture you..."

With a snort, the younger blond commented, "Tseng and the Director have both said the same thing to me. You'll forgive me if I don't believe you."

Her hand dropped as she looked at him with a raised brow and asked, "Which is why you're talking to me so frankly, and actually like a normal person being abrupt—rude, even—from agitation?"

Auryn had to admit the confusion that would cause her would be a valid worry, so he told her quietly, "I can't...always stop my old personality from showing through. Even after all this time, all the suffering, some circumstances just make me—snap. One of them is being exhausted, mentally overloaded, and feeling stir-crazy all at once, which is what I am right now. If there was ever a way to kill conditioned training and caution, that combination would be it—for just about anyone."

Doriss had to admit he had a point, but a sudden thought occurred to her. "What would it take for you to get proof?" she asked intently.

With a sigh, the sixteen-year-old said, "This version is the most different of all of them. I don't know that the previous locations of things would still be valid. Most of the time, I found most of the data in Shinra Manor in Nibelheim, in the hidden basement and lab, or at the Mount Nibel Reactor. This time, the data may not be there because there are a huge number of active factors which haven't been part of the picture before."

Blinking, then blinking again, Doriss gave him a shocked look which clearly asked, "How do you even know about that?"

"You seriously have to ask?" he asked in reply to the expression, raising a brow. "Could you please leave so I can maybe get some sleep, though?"

Giving him a faintly amused look, she said, "Sorry about that. Good night, then." She then stepped back, closed the door, and silence fell.

Slowly, Auryn laid back down and closed his eyes to try to sleep—only to start seeing flashbacks of incidences which were guaranteed to keep him from sleeping for some time.

FoWD _(flashback)_ FoWD

_In the first image to flash through his mind, he saw the all-too-familiar sight of Fuhito piercing his leg with the darkened child's spirit. It was painful, only because that memory never seemed to fade or grow more distant, and every time it had happened had just made it that much more raw. As a result, he tended to react violently to Fuhito's presence, and had killed him the moment he'd laid eyes on him many times, just to make the issue with the child's soul a non-entity. His doing so had also led to his death or torture more than once._

_As bad as that scene was, it was nothing compared to the next series._

_Tseng, with a hard, cold glint in his eyes, shoving sharp needles one by one into his fingers under the nails. That round of torture had only just begun that way, and the image to follow that was when the man had dripped hot wax onto several very sensitive places on his body, even holding his eyes open to let the wax fall onto the cornea. He struggled to shove those images away before they got worse, his physical body still reacting to the memory of the pain. He barely succeeded as a brief flash of Tseng with some sort of vial in hand appeared, but it cut off before the rest of that image followed._

_It was replaced by the single most horrifying incident he'd ever witnessed—Aeris with a staff in her hands as she attacked Tseng with the intent to kill. Like the previous images with Tseng, he struggled to force that away before it played out, before he found out the horrible truth of that dimension's Aeris._

_He felt his stomach starting to rebel, bile rising to his throat—a sensation which got worse as he next saw images of the time when Fuhito had thought it brilliant to slice open his entire body following his blood veins. If his blood hadn't already been Mako, he would have died long before Fuhito finished the task, let alone what he'd done after that._

_After the scenario ended, he found himself frozen in place with Stop as Balto struck him over and over again with a very fine whip with several ends, a device typically called a cat-o-nine-tails. The older man had been slowly stripping his back of skin in his anger over what he had perceived as a betrayal._

FoWD _(flashback end)_ FoWD

That was the last straw—Auryn couldn't take any more, and threw himself to his feet as he bolted for the bathroom. He barely made it to the toilet before he emptied his stomach contents into the bowl, a process which lasted for many minutes before he sagged against the wall across from it and curled into a ball as he shook and wept.

No, sleep wouldn't come that night.

FoWD

As she was getting ready for bed, Doriss kept an ear on the room downstairs, shaking her head at the Guards' need to restrict people. She knew they didn't do it with an intent to harm, and maybe wouldn't do it at all if the Hounds and the Guards weren't split like they were. Still, she was well aware of the effects of Auryn's imprisonment on him—as he'd said, he was feeling 'stir-crazy'. He needed out of that room, but the Guards wouldn't be inclined to let him easily. Kariya hadn't been so bad to this point, but with him currently away for awhile, having just been sent on another day-long mission, the rest didn't want to risk him by taking him out to a park or a shop.

What he most needed was for them to treat him normally outside the obvious need for an escort, not to be treated like a mental patient. Yes, he had issues. Emphasizing them would only make them worse.

A sudden noise downstairs made her tilt her head and listen—Auryn was in the bathroom. At first, the sound wasn't enough for her to hear what the issue was, and she thought he could just have been using it for the usual bathroom fare...but then it went on far too long for that. Going into her bathroom helped amplify the sound a bit through the pipes, and she realized he was throwing up.

With a small sigh, she found her PHS and dialed Doctor Crescent's direct line. "Wha—?" the woman asked a little dazedly as she answered the call, probably without checking the caller.

"I thought you'd like to know Auryn is throwing up and has been for the last ten minutes. There's a good chance he's nothing like emotionally stable right now, and probably needs a tranquilizer," she told the woman bluntly.

"Doriss?" the woman asked in surprise. "Wait, Auryn has already been throwing up for ten minutes?"

"About that. I haven't been specifically counting, but if anything, it's been longer."

A sigh reached her before the woman asked, "Do me a favor and rouse his night watchers and have some coffee ready for me when I get there? Please? And tell Tseng not to approach him while he's in his current state."

With a small, annoyed noise (something Guards would be suspicious if she didn't give), Doriss agreed, "Fine, I'll help out for now. Don't expect it, though."

A faint chuckle was the next reply she got before Lucrecia said, "Thank you, Doriss. I'll be there as soon as I can." She then hung up, so Doriss got up again and headed back into her room.

Minutes later, she was dressed again and knocking on Kariya's apartment door. To her mild surprise, Ansha's door down the hall opened before Tseng opened Kariya's, but she quickly turned back to the Wutain Turk in Kariya's apartment. "Auryn is throwing up. I called Doctor Crescent, so she's on her way, and she left me a few orders to fill," she said bluntly to the younger man. "First, she needs coffee waiting for her. Second, you need to be ready to have her here. And third, she said very specifically that _you_ shouldn't try to approach Auryn while he's likely having a breakdown."

"So I should just do nothing?" Tseng asked with a dark frown.

"I didn't ask the Doctor why she said the last," Doriss shrugged. "But she said you by name, Tseng."

"Does that mean I could do so?" Ansha asked worriedly from beside Doriss.

Looking at the other woman, the blond offered, "Probably. You'd know better than me why Tseng isn't a good idea right now, but you'll probably have to be cautious anyway. So, can I come in so I can start on the coffee she demanded?"

Tseng and Ansha traded looks, then Tseng moved out of the way so the two women could enter. Donnel was sitting on the couch looking rather out of sorts, causing Doriss to give him a worried look. He just shook his head—he was in no state himself to try to help Auryn. As such, as Ansha made her way towards the door to Auryn's room, Doriss found the necessary items to start making some coffee, and to her surprise, Tseng actually left the apartment, looking very put-out, angry, and hurt. She couldn't do a damned thing about his ego, so when she made the first batch of coffee, she first poured cups for the three Turks, then started a new batch.

As she offered Donnel a cup and sat beside him, she asked, "What happened to you that you can't function right now?"

"I had only recently woken from some of my own flashback nightmares when you knocked..." Donnel sighed, expression pained. "I'd have liked to help him, but I'm not stupid, and I can only barely keep my _own_ mind together...I'd destroy us both if I tried to do anything for Auryn right now."

Doriss sighed and ruffled his hair as she rose. "Don't worry too much about it. It happens—we all know that." He gave a small nod, and she turned towards the door to Kariya's room.

It felt strange to enter Auryn's room from that door, but enter she did, making her way to the bathroom door to see that Ansha had managed to wrap the now-weeping boy in a blanket. The toilet was in the process of flushing, but the smell of the bile still permeated the room unpleasantly, so she found an air freshener and gave it a spray. When she got back to the main room to fetch the cup of coffee meant for Ansha, she saw that Tseng had returned, and Director Valentine was with him. The Director met her gaze and gave her a nod as she moved over to the counter to get the cup waiting there, and made no motion to stop her as she went back into Kariya's apartment.

Was his lack of surprise at her presence _really_ just because Tseng had told him she was there?

Ansha was still in the bathroom, trying to coax Auryn up and into the bedroom, but the younger blond wasn't budging. Or, more likely, he couldn't. "Ansha, stop it." When Ansha looked up at her with a frown, Doriss shook her head and said, "Let Doctor Crescent give him some medication to calm the emotions, _then_ try to get him to move. Right now, you're just digging him deeper into the hole he's in. Be here as a presence in case he needs you, but don't try to force anything."

With a deep sigh, the other woman slowly rose. "I hate just leaving him, but you're right that it hasn't been working."

Silently, Doriss offered the cup of coffee to Ansha, who took it with a small nod of thanks—and downed three quarters of it. That done, the blond Turk returned to the main room to see Tseng sitting beside Donnel with an arm around his shoulders and the Director in a chair across from them. Vincent looked up at her and motioned her to the other free seat, so she quietly sat and waited for him to speak.

"Ansha's with Auryn?" he finally asked.

"Yes," she agreed simply.

After a short pause, he said, "Thank you for your help, Doriss." She gave him an annoyed look, so he smiled and told her, "It's not like you were required to do anything at all for Auryn. Instead, here you are, calling the Doctor and checking up on him. We all appreciate that, even though Tseng is a little upset over being told not to approach Auryn while he's at the extreme end of the emotional scale."

"It's not like Hounds are monsters," she pointed out bluntly.

The words amused him. "No, you aren't. Most of them won't help others amongst the Guards because it's not their business or their responsibility, though. And the reverse is also, unfortunately, true."

Her head tipped to the side as she realized he was telling her she was a better person than most of the people he knew, Hounds _or_ Guards.

Before she could formulate an answer, the door opened and Doctor Crescent rushed in, paused to stare at Donnel for a moment, then proceeded to Auryn when he waved her off. With an annoyed look, Doriss rose again to pour another cup of coffee for Doctor Crescent, then followed the other woman's path into the bathroom where Auryn and Ansha were. The woman had managed to coax his arm free, and Doriss suspected he only wasn't reacting to the needle because he couldn't see it. The Doctor had it in his arm before he could register pain, and not long after, his body was relaxing.

Sitting back with a sigh, Doctor Crescent looked tiredly up at Doriss and said, "Thank you for calling me. This was serious enough to _need_ intervention, and he wouldn't have gotten it anything like soon enough without you." She turned her gaze back to her patient for a minute, then tucked the needle away and rested her hand on his shoulder, asking gently, "How are you feeling, Auryn? I expect 'not pleasant' to be at the top of the list."

A small snort came from the younger blond before he softly agreed, his voice rough from pain and his previous crying, "That's putting it mildly..."

She managed to give him a small smile, but asked, "Do you think you can move as far as your bed?"

"Not by myself..." he managed to say, still not moving.

"If Ansha and Doriss were to help you, would you be able to?" Doriss thought the Doctor was actually asking if he was willing to uncurl from his little ball and let two women he wasn't very familiar with move him, especially since all the Guards were operating under the assumption that Doriss and Auryn had never met.

There was something like a shrug from the younger blond before he gave a small sigh and lifted his head to lean it back against the wall behind him. "I think so," he offered after looking blearily at the two women.

Lucrecia rose as she said, "I'll let them move you, then." As she stepped back, Doriss offered her the cup of coffee, which she took gratefully, then left the room.

Ansha had already knelt by Auryn's side and coaxed his arm around her shoulders so she could start to lift him, and Doriss knew the boy was just short of a dead weight right then. Moving over to his other side, she took his arm on that side and pulled it around her shoulders to take some of his weight. Auryn was either too drugged to care or just didn't have the strength to react—Doriss had actually been counting on that in order to get him up and into the bedroom. At least it wasn't far to go, and she and Ansha didn't need too much effort to coordinate themselves to get him moving.

Once he was on the bed and securely tucked in, Doctor Crescent sat down at his side and asked quietly, "Would you be willing to tell me what happened to set you off this time around?" As she did, she motioned Doriss and Ansha to leave, so they did, closing the door behind them.

Back in the main room, Vincent, Tseng, and Donnel looked up at them with questioning gazes, so Ansha told them, "She gave him a tranquilizer and we moved him to his bed. She's trying to find out what happened, but we won't know the answer until she's done, _if_ he answers her."

"Sit down, then," Vincent said with a sigh. As Doriss made to leave, he said, "I meant you as well, Doriss."

"Is that safe?" Tseng asked sharply as Doriss turned back to the Director in surprise.

"Normally, I'd probably say no, but she lives in the apartment right above his," Vincent pointed out in a dry tone. The other Guards blinked in surprise, and Doriss found herself asking in her own mind if they had _all_ really missed that point. "By extension, I find it hard to believe she's missed everything that went on here before this. If she hasn't felt a need to share with the other Hounds, which it looks like she hasn't, I doubt there's much we actually need to hide from her." His gaze moved to her curiously as he asked, "Am I right that you've 'overheard' much of what's gone on here?"

"Pretty much," she agreed. "But are you sure you want to blatantly _tell_ me any of it instead of letting me guess at the context?"

He gazed at her evenly for a few moments, then said, "Assume we pick this up from prior discussions, which is likely what we're going to do. Are you _really_ going to get any more 'context' than you did before? The only difference is that you're closer at hand this time. Am I wrong?"

She had to give him that, so finally sighed and moved over to Donnel's free side to sit there.

It didn't take long for Lucrecia to come into the main room, still looking somewhat tired, but the first thing she said was, "I'm _glad_ I had Doriss tell Tseng not to try to approach him in that state. It may have been luck this time, but some of his flashbacks were of prior incidences of torture involving the Tseng lookalike. It wouldn't have been good for him to see the real deal just then. He should be fine by morning."

To hide her shock at that detail, Doriss tilted her head down to stare at her hands, but kept listening intently.

"What else did he say were in the flashbacks?" Vincent asked.

"There were a few he didn't talk about, and no amount of coaxing would get him to explain those," Lucrecia sighed. "We're really going to have to look into that man named Fuhito, though—some of the flashbacks he would discuss, vaguely at least, were ones involving him. There were at least two others, but I'm under the impression those were either extremely emotionally painful or very fresh in his memory."

Doriss suddenly looked up as she said, "That terrorist group in Wutai Verdot has been sending us to investigate—AVALANCHE."

"What?" Vincent asked in surprise.

She met his gaze and said, "The known leader of AVALANCHE is named Fuhito."

All the Guards stared at her in shock for a moment before Vincent's gaze moved to Donnel questioningly. "He hadn't sent me, but I have access to the files. If that's the same Fuhito, he's a real danger to all of Shinra, and we _need_ to deal with him swiftly."

"Around the—conflict (1) there?" Ansha asked tentatively.

"It's probably not optional if Fuhito makes a habit of actually doing the kinds of things Auryn described," Lucrecia said softly.

With a suddenly tight expression, the Director nodded and told Donnel, "More than anything, we need their location. The Hounds may not have it yet, so you may need to copy the files for me. In the meantime, I'll talk with Lady Shinra and see what else can be done. For tonight, this is all we're doing. Tseng, Donnel, you'd both better head out, and I'll get Rude to stay here with Ansha." His gaze moved to Doriss as he added, "Thank you for that offer of data. The Hounds won't find out from us why we began looking into one of their cases, so your involvement is safe unless you choose to share it. Rest well."

Since that was a clear dismissal, Doriss left, followed closely by most of the others.

**Notes:**

(1) No, this isn't actually a war state. Yay for Lady Shinra managing to create a situation of 'variable tolerance' both Shinra and Wutai currently have, and it's basically a strained truce which took the place of a war. No, they don't especially get along, but they still trade with one another and sometimes deliberately aggravate one another in various ways. They also still sometimes help one another, if it happens to be mutually beneficial. It also means Fuhito can travel freely as long as most of the population doesn't realize he's the leader of a terrorist group.


	13. 12-Unexpected Ally

**A/N: SURPRISE!** Though, for anyone who read Fates of Worlds through, this isn't as much of a surprise. I think.

Unexpected Ally

Two quiet days after Auryn's flashbacks, as Tseng approached a place he was very familiar with, he could hear the sound of laughter, both a young girl's and a young woman's, and a dog barking. As he heard the young girl call, "You gotta bring it back so I can throw it again, Alexander!" he smiled in faint amusement. It never failed. The place was much more lively with the girl and her pet dog—or rather, it was a pure white Bandersnatch—added to the mix.

He had thought of mentioning her to Auryn, but if his captors didn't know about her, that was one more point in their favor to say they didn't actually know everything. So, he would wait for Auryn to mention her if he knew, and if not, she would stay a secret.

Stepping into the old Church in the Sector 5 Slums, Tseng was greeted with the sight of his sister in all but blood sitting on the altar at the back of the room, legs pulled up to the top edge of it as a very large, white, maned wolf paced and sniffed around the base of the altar. Not far away from where Tseng was by the doors stood a girl of about five as she held her hands over her mouth and giggled.

Both of them had medium-dark brown hair (though the younger's was paler), Lifestream green eyes, and the same abilities, but their facial features looked nothing alike. The older's hair was in a long ponytail, and the younger's was in braided pigtails, both styles falling past the waist. Both also wore dresses, the older in a blue and white, horizontally-striped one without sleeves and the younger in one in green. She also wore a cute, wood-brown vest and boots, the ties in her hair green; the older had opted for a white ribbon and white shoes.

"Come on, Alexander! It's in the flowers!" the younger girl called to the Bandersnatch, making Tseng quirk a brow and look at the flowers growing in the mud in the hole in the Church floor. The hole wasn't far from the altar, but there was about three feet of solid floor on that side, where Alexander was currently sniffing around. In the middle of the flower patch, however, he could see the bright red ball the tamed monster was clearly looking for.

He remembered the day the girl and monster had appeared in their lives, a little over a month ago now. Aeris, Ifalna, Gast, Elmyra, and he himself had all been sitting at the Gainsborough table, eating a 'family dinner' (for as strange of a family as it was) when there had been a noise outside. It had sounded like something had fallen or been knocked over in the trash heaps between the house and the main Sector 5 Slum town. They had thought at first to leave well enough alone, but Aeris had gotten up and run to the door, followed closely by Ifalna. When they'd opened it, the white Bandersnatch had been trotting in their direction, silent like a ghost, and a closer look had shown something on its back.

As it had come to a halt at the foot of the stairs and whined, Tseng had been shocked to see a little girl on its back, unconscious, nude, hair falling all around her. Both Aeris and Ifalna had rushed down to the Bandersnatch and girl, retrieving the child to bring her inside, get her bathed, clothed, and put to bed. The Bandersnatch had quietly followed, staying loyally by the little girl's side. Even to this point, he hadn't ever seen them outside visual range of one another. What was more odd about it was that the girl was a Cetra, and even Ifalna had no real idea of where she had come from, who her parents had been, only that the Lifestream wanted the child cared for.

When the girl had woken the next day, the first thing she'd asked had been, "Where's Little Big Brother and Big Big Brother?"

Oddly, though, Tseng hadn't been able to get anything more than that about her 'brothers' from her, as her mind seemed to be muddled, and she had clearly suffered before reaching them. Her recovery progress since then had been decent, but in many cases, she was still off-balance and disoriented. It was nice to see her able to play so happily today, and he wasn't entirely certain he wanted to interrupt them with his request for Aeris to meet a complete stranger.

"Tseng!" Aeris called happily from her perch on the altar, waving at him.

"Hello, Aeris," he called back with a smile.

"Tseng!" the little girl grinned, spinning to face him—then launching herself at him to hug him around the waist. A moment later, a very happy Bandersnatch joined them to butt his head against Tseng's side.

"Hello there, Nina, Alexander," he smiled, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Do you remember anything new about yourself or your brothers?"

"Uh—Daddy's family was called 'Tucker'," she said. "And Big Big Brother liked armor."

"Did he have a lot of Materia?" he asked in mild surprise.

Nina blinked at him uncomprehendingly, then giggled and said, "Not _that_ kind of armor, silly Big Brother Tiger!" Oh, how annoying that nickname she'd given him was! But still, he couldn't bring himself to stop her. "The big metal suits that cover all over the body! Big Big Brother always wore one, even when he was eating and sleeping!"

Tseng tipped his head to the side as his brain broke momentarily. Finally, after processing the words, he asked tentatively, "Are you sure?"

"Yup! I _saw_ him!" she chirped.

Was it even _possible_ for someone to wear a suit of armor at all times? How would he have actually slept with it on? Or used the toilet?

"There are some really strange people in the world, aren't there?" Aeris giggled from behind Nina, and Tseng looked up to see her a couple feet away. When he smiled and lifted an arm to invite her in close for a hug, she moved up to hug him around the neck, trapping a giggling Nina between their legs.

"I think that goes beyond 'strange' and enters the masochistic definition," he said in a dry tone, then released her.

Aeris stepped back with another chuckle and asked, "So, is this just a social visit, or is it work?"

"You mean, do you have to listen to the usual requisite speech I _have_ to give you if I'm working at the time or not?" he asked dryly. She grinned, but he said, "It's work, but you don't have to listen to it this time. We actually—need your help. Not to go back to Shinra, but to find out how many 'true' points we can verify for our new charge's knowledge base."

"Sorry...what?" Aeris asked in mild confusion.

Nina detached from him and called, "Come on, Alexander! Let's find your ball!" She and the Bandersnatch both ran to the flower patch, the canine barking happily as he went.

Aeris took his wrist and pulled him over to a bench near the Church doors, where they both sat and the fifteen-year-old asked again, "What's going on, Tseng?"

"Not too long ago, we accidentally found a young man—he's a bit older than you—who has been badly tortured by being made to run through countless fictitious scenarios wherein he was being tortured by people he'd first been made to trust. Those people included ones from both the Hounds and the Guards across the whole Shinra spectrum, and also some people outside it," Tseng explained quietly. "Apparently, I was made out to be one of the worst of his tormentors." Aeris' eyes widened in horror at the last. "He gave me the most common reason for why—usually, it was because those other versions of me had reacted very poorly to seeing him, a stranger, with you. And he could describe you accurately."

"Oh Shiva..." Aeris gasped. "How is that possible? Who did that to him—who knows about me? Will Nina be safe? What—"

"Aeris," the Wutain Turk cut her off gently. She silenced and focused on him with a worried gaze, so he told her, "We don't know who, but it was someone who knew enough about Hojo's 'fingerprint' as a Scientist to put it in his genetics. We also don't know what they want or hope to accomplish." The younger woman paled at the words. "He knows a lot of things—we're trying to verify them, and so far, he's gotten quite a few right. He's hurting and needs help, but we're working on that. But one thing we all agreed would prove the point will be how you take him when you meet him. That would also tell us a great deal about his captors and how well-versed they were—are—about the situation as it stands. There's been no mention of Nina yet, but..."

"...Do you feel it's safe for me to meet him, Tseng?" Aeris asked quietly after a moment.

Tseng turned to look at Nina and Alexander—the maned wolf had parked himself on his belly in the middle of the flower patch and Nina was climbing on his back.

"I think he honestly cares about you and would never willingly hurt you," he said at last. "Like your—well, like what Alexander is to Nina, he would be to you, if he was entirely stable again. I want to know if you would take him as he said you always have. In the interests of not planting ideas in your head, I won't tell you what that way is. As for his captors, they already _know_ about you and haven't done anything, so...I would guess you aren't terribly important to whatever they're doing? Either way, it's moot."

She peered at him for a long moment, then said, "If you feel he's safe, I'll meet with him. The Lifestream doesn't seem to be trying to warn me away from a meeting, anyway, so that's a point in your, and his, favor."

"By the way...Do you take the Lifestream as a female entity? Not the other souls you feel rejoin it, but the base sentience of the Lifestream?" he suddenly asked her.

"Oh?" Aeris blinked in surprise, then smiled. "Mother Earth. That's what the Lifestream is, our mother, the reason we all exist right now. Mother Ifalna told me 'Mother Earth' is Min Erva in the Cetra language, like 'Jenova' is Jeh-nova, the Calamity from the Skies. So to you, Mother Earth would be Minerva."

He stared at her with wide eyes, then tentatively asked, "He asked me once, 'How much do you think the Lifestream knows about us?' Do you know what he meant?"

"Um...Tseng...There's nothing Minerva _doesn't_ know about everyone on the Planet. She just can't always interpret what she's seeing—she's too massive. The Cetra were supposed to help maintain her by being smaller and better able to pick out details she can't process on her own. We help her make sense of it. But I know there's one more Cetra in the world right now—not Mother Ifalna, Nina, or me—someone powerful but hidden. Minerva isn't worried about that one right now, so we haven't gone looking for them. Or, it's more like, she's saddened by something about them, but not worried for their safety right now."

She then paused to think for a moment before saying, "Sorry, got a bit off topic there. About what Minerva knows, she has a record in her memory of everything all the people have done. Time flows differently for her, but some things are stable, so she uses those as starting points, then asks us to 'define' the events she can't work out herself. It works best if she has a single person or an actual isolated event to have us interpret at any particular time, but it means that, if I had a name to ask her about, she could share everything about that person with me, everything they've done and said."

"...That data can only be accessed by Cetra?" he asked thoughtfully.

"...Usually."

"...Usually?"

"A huge part of the population...Well, more like _all_ of it...has Cetra genetics, they're just recessive instead of dominant. Theoretically, any one of those people could—and some occasionally have—access her memory of other people or events. It's not common, but more people seem to be accessing parts of her memory recently."

At the words, Tseng hissed a soft curse, then blinked and gave a faint smile. "That clever boy, having me ask you to tell me these things."

"Uh...?" Aeris blinked in confusion as she stared at his amused expression. She'd never actually seen him go from worried—or almost scared—to amused so quickly before.

Reaching out to hug her, he said, "Thank you, Aeris. He wanted me to ask you because he knew I'd trust your word long before I'd trust his, but you just gave us a huge piece of the puzzle. It's no less worrisome, but at least we now have a means for how they managed to get the data they did in order to pass it on to him. I'll work out a time for the two of you to meet."

He then let her go and stood to look for Nina and Alexander—he was now prancing around with the young girl riding happily on his back. Well, this Bandersnatch was nearly the size of a Chocobo, so why not?

Looking back at Aeris, he asked, "Shall we play with her while she's healthy? I don't need to rush back." He offered a hand to help his sister up.

With a grin and a happy, "Of course!" she took his hand.

FoWD

About a week passed peacefully after Tseng's trip to the Slums. Both Kariya and Tseng had been visiting with Auryn a grand total of once per day, other than the meals Kariya still insisted Auryn take in his apartment. Tseng only joined them for those if Kariya felt the younger blond was stable enough to deal with him, which had only been once on most days. Otherwise, Auryn had been left completely alone with only books for company. While that didn't normally bother him, being locked in the one, small set of rooms for that whole time _did_. Locking him in a library would have been a much better choice.

Finally, against his better judgment, Auryn decided he wanted out.

That day was unusual in that lunch had ended with Kariya giving him the leftovers to heat up later and telling him to stay in while he was away. One of the Turks Auryn wasn't familiar with, Terri (the one with the whip, he was told), would be in Kariya's apartment until the man got back, probably pretty late that night. Back in his own apartment, Auryn put his meal in the fridge, then realized it was the perfect time to leave for awhile—Terri was working on paperwork for his own cases and wouldn't be likely to check on him as long as all was quiet.

With the realization, Auryn dressed properly and made sure his hair was properly secured in its tail, then climbed up to Doriss' apartment and opened the balcony door—she'd left it unlocked, just as she'd said. The apartment he stepped into had a rather militaristic bent to it, being practical, lacking in many 'frivolous' things, and displaying devices on the walls which looked like military crests. However, for all its practicality, everything which had originally been in the apartment had been replaced with different items, making it unique. Brown and white were prominent colors, and most of Doriss' furniture was medium-dark wood with white highlights or white and brown cushioning.

As he crossed the room towards the hall door, a tired voice asked, "Auryn?" He turned and saw Doriss in a white t-shirt and black shorts standing in the bedroom door, hair mussed from sleep and gaze only partially aware.

"I—need to get out, explore for awhile," he said quietly to her. "I thought the easiest way to get in and out without being seen by Guards was this way. Is that okay?"

She released a sigh and rubbed her eyes, then dropped her hand and met his gaze with a more alert one. "You _do_ realize you'll be in danger by going out there by yourself, right? I'd go with you, but my shift starts not long after supper, and I need to sleep. Not to mention, you may not be ready to go back by then."

"I'm tired of being—a kept treasure to either be locked up or under constant guard. I want to go alone, even if that's a risk," Auryn replied, meeting her gaze pleadingly.

Leaning on the doorjamb tiredly as she gazed at him, she didn't reply for a minute, so he turned back towards the door. Her voice stopped him as she said, "I'll let you do that this time. If something happens while you're out there, I won't let you go without an escort again, Auryn. I'm not saying that, or doing it, because I think you're some sort of treasure, but because even _I_ know the Shinra building isn't safe for someone who is effectively defenseless. I don't want to see you hurt, and unfortunately, you seem to attract trouble. So, this is a trial. Give it a try and we'll see how things go."

Turning back to look at her, he thought about the words, then slowly nodded and gave a small smile. "Thank you, Doriss." She nodded and disappeared back into her room, so he walked out with the intent to explore the building.

For awhile, especially on lower floors, he was fine. Everyone went about their day and tasks without even noticing him. Those were floors he typically didn't get to explore much, regardless of the situation or dimension, and he found it enjoyable to give the building such a thorough exploration. It was probably around supper time when he reached the higher floors, near the ones SOLDIER and the Turks used, but he was still below them, on floor thirty-nine, where they did engineering of some sort (he was locked out of the rooms, though), when his stomach rumbled hungrily.

Turning around to head for someplace where he could get food, he found his way blocked by a rather large, smirking man who wore the SOLDIER First black uniform. The man had dark hair and was almost as built as Major Armstrong (wasn't _that_ just an _old_ memory to use as a comparison?), but didn't seem to be the well-meaning sort. Auryn was feeling a sense of worry from the Lifestream at the man's intent examination of him.

His worry (and Minerva's) was proven valid as the man leered and asked, "What's a pretty thing like you doing wandering around here?"

"Just looking," Auryn replied quietly, backing away.

"Looking for anything in particular?" the man asked, following.

"Not especially." He kept backing up as the man advanced, until his back hit the wall and his eyes widened in alarm.

The SOLDIER reached forward and placed his hands on the wall to either side of Auryn's shoulders, leaning in close to him and saying, "Well, there's a fee for coming here without business, and I'm claiming it. We'll just find a nice, quiet place for you to turn yourself over to me, yeah? Unless you'd like to drop your pants right here?"

If he could have done so, Auryn would have blanched at the words. Since he couldn't, his knees started giving out, and as he started sinking down, something in his mind kick-started him into twisting, throwing himself to the side under the man's arm, and bolting down the hall. Maybe it was Minerva trying to keep him from just letting others harm him, trying to help him as much as she was able, or maybe his feeling of being cooped up had helped bring some of his old personality back. He had no answer, but the part of him which was still sane was thankful, even if he sort of knew the man would catch him and have his way with him. He could hear the man following behind him, and gaining on him, as the SOLDIER cursed.

However, he was pretty much running blindly, and as he came to a corner, someone else was just rounding it, someone he ran into head-first, causing a very feminine yelp as the person stumbled. Whoever it was didn't fall, but got back their bearings and wrapped their arms around him, keeping him there as he trembled. All he could tell right then was that it was a woman's body, so she was probably the one least likely to harm him. If she didn't just have the SOLDIER escort him away for being somewhere he had no reason to be.

"Gotcha, you little slut," the SOLDIER sneered as his hand closed on Auryn's arm and Auryn whimpered. The woman holding Auryn made a sudden motion and the SOLDIER yelped and released the blond boy as he snarled, "What the—Madam Scarlet!"

...Scarlet, as in the head of the Weapons Development Department?

"What is going on here?" the woman's royally angry voice asked sharply above his head. Yes, he knew that voice, and this was indeed Scarlet. What a person to run into...

"Sorry, he's an intruder I was trying to escort out, but he got away from me at the last moment," the SOLDIER said. "I'll just take him—"

"If you think I'm _that_ stupid, you need your head examined, Dante," Scarlet replied harshly. "Just one look at you and your hard-on is obvious—you don't want to escort him out, you want to 'escort' him to your rooms, whether he wants to go with you or not. I rather think, by his behavior, it's 'not'. And let's not forget that this floor is a public floor, regardless of the locked rooms, so unless he was in one of the locked rooms—something _else_ I sincerely doubt—he was perfectly allowed to be here. Now, either get out of my sight or I'll have you demoted." Auryn could feel one of her hands slipping between his body and hers as she spoke the last bit, then withdrawing as it pulled something small and hard with it.

Wait, _Scarlet_ was _defending_ him?

"Now listen here, woman—"

The SOLDIER, apparently named Dante, was cut off by a gunshot, and after a short pause, Auryn heard a heavy thump. He jumped, then slowly turned his head to look behind him.

Above his shoulder, he could see Scarlet's arm extended, a smoking, small handgun in her hand. A couple feet away, Dante was sprawled on the floor, an obvious bullet wound in his head.

Had she just _killed_ a man to save him, a complete stranger?

The hand holding the gun lowered, prompting him to turn back towards her and step back so he could look up at her, his gaze wary and afraid. She still looked just the same, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a red dress, but the dress wasn't cut as low at the front as usual. He realized why when he saw her slip the gun into the front of her dress between her breasts—he'd never met a version of Scarlet who kept a gun _there_ before.

"He wasn't able to harm you, was he?" Scarlet asked him, her gaze even.

"No, I—managed to get out of his grip before..." he answered honestly, but a shiver he couldn't quite hide ran through his body.

"Well, come on, then. Even a gunshot wound won't keep a SOLDIER out for long, so we'd better be safely away from here by the time he comes to."

The older woman looped an arm around his shoulders, turned him, and led him down the hall past the body, and down several more of the halls he'd already explored, until she came to one door in particular. At it, she pulled out an Executive Keycard, swiped it in the locking mechanism, and led him inside when the door slid open quietly. They entered a large room which was clearly being used for work on engineering schematics, and he could see at least three groups around the room.

To the back of it was another door, which Scarlet led him to, and it opened into a rather large, relaxed office with a wide desk, an executive chair behind it, and three cushioned chairs in front. The walls were stacked with shelves full of books, papers, and various engineering parts, the wall behind Scarlet's seat was three quarters window, and to one side of the desk was a sitting area with two loveseats and two chairs around a round coffee table. Most of the other side was taken up with tables covered in glass cases or incomplete weapon prototypes.

"Sit," she said as she pushed him in the direction of the chairs. One corner of a bookshelf near the window had been appropriated by a tea set and several tea bags, and she made her way to it to prepare tea for both of them. She passed a cup to him before taking her seat with a tired, relieved sigh as he tentatively took the middle seat of the three. "It's chamomile," she told him, lifting her cup. "Relaxing."

For a moment, Auryn hesitated, then took a tentative sip, feeling the warmth ease some of his fear and reducing his likelihood of descending into a full-blown panic attack. Realizing that, he kept sipping it as he watched Scarlet set down her cup and start on the schematics on her desk.

She'd brought him to her office just so he could sit there while she worked?

...It sure seemed that way.


	14. 13-Balto, Genesis, and Arrays, Oh My!

Balto, Genesis, and Arrays, Oh My!

Since it seemed Scarlet was going to leave him be, Auryn could study the room and the things in it without being directly observed, so he did. What he'd noted before had been a precursory glance to orient himself. In other dimensions, he'd been in this office before, but it had never looked like this or—had a tea service in the corner. Even though Scarlet hadn't always been an enemy, he'd always seen a cold, impersonal room which offered no leniency. It was all metal, lines, schematics, tools, hard seats (even hers), and work, work, work. There had been nothing like the copy of LOVELESS on one of the bookshelves, the floor rug in blue and red under the warm, golden-brown seats to the side, or the colorful, Costa-influenced tapestries hanging on her shelves.

One of the most prominently-displayed tapestries was a flower-like star burst in all colors on a red background, and somehow, Auryn's mind jumped to Genesis.

Turning his gaze back to the desk, he started actively looking at the things on it—only to blink as Scarlet suddenly huffed and scowled in irritation, pushed away the schematic she'd been working on, grabbed a fresh sheet of paper, and started drawing. It didn't take long for Auryn to enter a state of stunned shock as she drew out the base array to create lightning which was found in the Lightning Materia, something Scarlet _should not_ have known!

It was only because the Lifestream was talking into his head that he didn't have a panic attack. It reminded him that this had been happening more and more often.

And it had been, he realized.

As he had jumped from dimension to dimension, gradually a trend had begun to appear. Evan Townshend had been the first one, and had ended up having the skill in all but one successive dimension. If it had just been him, it would have been odd enough, but the more dimensions Auryn had crossed through, the more seemingly random people had appeared with arrays being imprinted into their minds. Some were new people he was meeting for the first time, but others were ones he'd known since the first dimension. Zack had been one to get it in one dimension—that had just been _strange—_and Freyra in a different one, just to name a couple.

However, many of those people had also begun to stabilize to always having the skill, and certain people had, more often than not, had it from the first time they'd shown signs of it. The number of people in that category had gone up nearly by one per dimension for the last two dozen or so. It seemed like the only people who didn't get the effect were the ones who already knew they were Mages and used the Materia freely and with great skill. It had never happened to Kunzel or Genesis, for example. But it had _also_ never happened to certain people, such as Scarlet or Rufus.

"Are you feeling all right?" Scarlet's voice cut into his thoughts, making him start and look up at her. She was gazing at him with worried curiosity, her hand resting on the complete array after she'd shuffled it to the side.

"I'm—do you actually _know_ what you're drawing?" he asked her, pointing with his chin at her hand on the array.

"What?" she asked with a startled blink. Then she shook her head. "They've been coming to me since I was a child—rather irritating for their timing. Otherwise, I rather like the patterns, so I don't mind too much. I've never given much thought to what they may be. Why?"

"That's the functional instructions for the Bolt spells in the Lightning Materia," Auryn blurted out before he could stop himself. Inside, he cringed, but he knew he couldn't stop as he saw her interested gaze. "The one you drew just now. Other ones would have other uses—maybe Fire or Cure or other things. Some might even be arrays for things not found in Materia. I don't know what all you've drawn to tell you for sure, though."

"Really?" she asked curiously, lifting her hand to look down at the array under it. "Functional instructions in picture form? I suppose that makes sense for something esoteric and unscientific."

"That's—a false assumption, though," he hedged tentatively.

Blinking and looking back at him, she asked with real curiosity, "How do you mean?"

"...You...really want to know?" he asked carefully.

"I do. This is something I've never understood, but would like to. If you know about it, I'd like to know what this is and how it works," she agreed. Her gaze was open in a way he only rarely had seen in the past, and only from the Scarlets who had been his allies.

Seeing that expression caused him to release a deep breath, then draw one in, before telling her, "The lines forming the array image are coding for scientific and mathematical equations. Those define things like how much power it will unleash and the form the power will take. The smaller bits of lines—like a language I'm sure you don't recognize—give the instructions for its workings, like duration, targeting, and range. Those act like computer code and are just as touchy in how they're put together. But the 'language' the code is in is the language of the Ancients. This was their science long ago, and it's the base functionality of the Planet and everything in nature. It's _also_ exactly the same as every known scientific and mathematical equation you use in your schematics, just laid out differently."

She stared at him in surprise for a moment, then looked down at the array she'd drawn calculatingly for a minute. Suddenly, it was like she had an epiphany, gasping, "That's _it_!" as she jumped up and ran from the room.

Auryn just stared after her in surprise for a minute before settling back into his seat to finish his tea while he waited for her to get back. Better not to go wandering at this point—too much chance of the wrong person seeing him if he did.

His peace didn't last long, though, as there was a sudden explosion which rocked the building, and when the sound from it had died down, he heard Scarlet's voice cheer in exuberance, "_Yes_! It works! _Finally_!" He'd have laughed if he hadn't been so shocked. Had he really just helped her make a rather powerful weapon?

A few moments later, she ran back into the room looking a little sooty as she grinned at him and announced, "I definitely owe you one for your help, Lady's stray. That was one problem which just wasn't working out, but knowing what those arrays were gave me a new insight into my engineering schematics, and a whole lot of things started making sense. Mind if I have your name?"

"...They're calling me Auryn for now," he said, feeling a bit dizzy with what she'd just bluntly told him. "If you're with the Hounds, why did you help me? Why are you still?"

Her head tipped to the side as she gave a small grin and made her way back to her seat. "I'm not actually 'with' anyone, though because I have the most contact with the Hounds, everyone sort of allocated me to them. As for helping you—no matter who I associate with, some things are just _wrong_, and what Dante wanted to do to you was one of them. I won't differentiate when a victim is right in front of me. You haven't been unpleasant company or intrusive, so I also don't mind having you here. This was just an unexpected bonus. I'd like to talk with you about this in greater depth another time, if that's all right with you?"

"Sure, I guess. But why not now?"

"I'm expecting company shortly, after making the building rock."

At her impish grin, he had to smile faintly, but just to be sure, he asked, "So why didn't you pick a side?"

"Really?" she blinked. "Because it didn't matter to me or my work. I provide the Guards with gear just as much as I do the Hounds, and if they hadn't noticed, all of their equipment is made equally as well. I won't take anyone in my department who won't put their work before their battle lines—we're not combatants, and it's not our business who wants to kill who."

That time, Auryn blinked, but before he could answer, the door was thrown wide open and the President's familiar voice yelled, "Scarlet! What in blazes did you just _do_?" Auryn jumped and held a hand over his heart as he struggled to maintain calm.

"I successfully completed a magi-laser prototype cannon," she replied smugly. "I have a couple kinks to work out—a power gauge, for example—but this should be just as powerful as the Junon Mako cannon, smaller and easier to carry, and able to shoot without using Mako. The raw power was a little shocking, though—even _I_ hadn't calculated it to be so high. So, now you know your funding to my department isn't being wasted on nothing—your proof is how the whole building felt my results, even through the layers of defenses put up around our test rooms." Her gaze then became sly and thoughtful as she added, "Though, now I'm going to need stronger defenses..."

The President growled, then huffed and said, "Fine, I'll transfer you some extra funds for some renovations—I _don't_ want to have a panic attack again over your tests."

"Thank you!" she almost chirped. Really? Auryn was shocked to hear a sound like that from her, but even his startled gaze made no impact on her happy expression. "I'll be looking for it and get started right away."

"In the meantime, I'm leaving some people here to remind you not to do that again today," the President replied, then marched out.

"Oh my," Scarlet blinked, then gave a smirking grin to someone behind Auryn. "Now aren't you just a fine one to leave, Magic Poet?"

"Of course," an oh-so-familiar voice replied smugly. "He doesn't realize I'm more inclined to help you blow things up than to stop you."

It was Genesis. Wait, why did _Scarlet_ call him as endearing a name as 'Magic Poet'?

"However, _I_ am quite inclined to prevent another incident like that," Balto's equally familiar voice put in, sounding irritated.

Oh, Hell. _This_ was going to be fun. Auryn already knew this was going to be hard, but _this_?

"Spoil-sport," Genesis pouted, then rested his hands on the back of Auryn's chair and leaned over him, causing Auryn to look up in surprise. He was sure he looked a lot like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. "Who's this, my Lady Red?"

"He's the Guards' new stray," Balto's voice put in from the side of the room. "How in the world did he get _here_, though, with how protective the Guards are of him?"

"I'm not interested in knowing that part," Scarlet replied, brushing off the question. "He was wandering around, minding his own business, when Dante decided he'd be a good bed-partner. Auryn didn't agree and accidentally ran into me while trying to escape. I put a hole in Dante's head for his efforts and brought Auryn back here with me to give him time and space to calm down. He ended up giving me the clues I needed to make the cannon work, so I'm quite pleased with the result."

There was a moment of startled silence, then Genesis looked up at Scarlet's desk—and saw the array. "That's a Lightning Materia array. Did Auryn draw it?"

"_I_ drew it. Auryn explained it to me," Scarlet smirked.

"I thought you were the only one who could see Materia arrays, Genesis?" Balto asked in confusion.

The red haired man stood straight and crossed one arm over his chest to grip the elbow of the other arm as the other arm's hand curled against his chin while he thought. After a minute, he mused, "It's one thing to use Materia, but seeing the arrays or knowing anything about them...The only thing I can think of is that Auryn's a Mage." His gaze moved to Scarlet as he asked, "But what are _you_? If you'd gotten it from a Materia, we'd already have talked about them, so you didn't get it there."

"They've been randomly popping into my head since I was about five or six," she shrugged. "I had no idea Materia worked based on them, and I'm not even skilled with Materia, so there's no way I'm a Mage. Auryn wouldn't surprise me, though. And Auryn, stop looking like you're going to have a panic attack. No one here will hurt you on _my_ watch."

"Oh, that's insulting!" Genesis pouted as Auryn's gaze finally swiveled back to Scarlet in mild surprise. "I wouldn't hurt him, anyway."

After what she'd done to Dante, somehow, he believed her. With that assurance, he began calming again, saying a quiet, "Thanks," to her.

Scarlet and Genesis quickly turned their attention to one another, leaving him be to observe again. They had moved to the seats around the coffee table to talk about her arrays and what they were—she'd even pulled out a whole stack of them to show him.

Auryn was rather surprised by how close Genesis and Scarlet—of all people!—were. They were almost like a brother and sister, with all the friendliness, teasing, and worries which went with it. Why they were like that, he had no idea, though it almost seemed like, since Sephiroth obviously wasn't a huge part of Genesis' life in this dimension, the red haired Commander's attention had shifted to someone else notably emotionally stunted—Scarlet. Somehow, the combination worked and had given the woman a huge amount of compassion and human expression she had previously never shown.

In the meantime, Balto had started out leaning against the shelves to that side of the office, but when Scarlet and Genesis had moved over to the seats, he'd huffed in annoyance and moved away from them. The next place he'd moved to had been near the door behind Auryn, whose past experiences with the man had put him into a state of hyper-awareness of the man's presence and location. He'd even triggered a Resist spell on himself, which would hold his physical state as it was and prevent any and all status effect spells from working on him.

Over time, he'd noted Balto migrating along the wall in Auryn's direction, until he finally moved away from it to make his way to the tea set, retrieved the kettle and tea bags, and took them back to the desk. He poured a cup for himself, then looked at Auryn with a questioning expression as he hefted the kettle in offering. After a tense pause, the blond sixteen-year-old held his empty cup out so the man could fill it, then set the kettle on a stack of Scarlet's papers—and sat in the chair beside Auryn which was furthest from Scarlet and Genesis.

After taking a sip of his tea, Balto commented, "We really didn't have a very good introduction, did we?" When the younger of the two didn't reply, he shrugged and went on, "In the Turks, the Guards and the Hounds get very tense and defensive around one another, with only rare exceptions. It's not as bad in other departments, like SOLDIER or the Science Department. It doesn't change the fact that you were with Guards—with Verde in particular—at the time and saw the worst of me. That wasn't really fair to you."

The blond released a deep sigh and commented softly, "It's strange to hear someone who defines himself as 'not a nice man' say something like that."

Balto blinked in surprise, then sat back a bit. "Interesting." When Auryn lifted his gaze to meet the other man's through his glasses, he shrugged. "Not many outside Shinra have ever heard that."

"...You're not going to deny it?" the blond blinked.

"Deny what?" Balto asked dryly. "As you said, I even define _myself_ as 'not a nice man'. I'm not sure you realize I have moral limits though."

"You do?" Auryn couldn't help but ask in a bitter tone, flashing back to every time this man, who had been the first to declare himself his brother in the first dimension, had tortured him brutally. He supposed the one thing he could say is that it had never gone in a sexual direction, and had certainly never been as bad as anything Tseng had done to him—but it had still been damned painful, on many levels, regardless.

For a minute, Balto was silent. Then, he said, "I had no idea I was capable of the things I now know I am until the day my friend was kidnapped by criminals and I went to rescue him. That day—didn't turn out how I had expected. I'd thought I'd create a distraction, grab him, and run. Instead, they caught me and decided to 'have some sport' with me. It didn't take long after one of them took a dagger to my arms and chest for something in me to snap. I didn't go into a blind rage or a panic attack in fear, I went completely cold and calm, and I was fully aware of every action I took as I freed one arm, seized the knife, and slit the man's throat.

"I was still fully aware as I killed two more who had been holding me down in the same way, seized one's sword, and turned it on the rest. One man was left alive, and I was standing in the middle of a blood bath. I didn't care, either. If my friend had tried to reach out to me, it's possible I would have been horrified by what I'd done, but instead, he called me a monster, said I was no friend of his, and ran. The last lone man who was still alive, I tortured to death, probably as a reaction to the pain I _should_ have felt at what my so-called friend had just done.

"When the Infantry found me, they deemed me insane and a danger to the village, so they put me in prison—a reasonable assumption at seeing what was left in the cave the criminals had been hiding in. They only released me because it would be into the care of the Turks, as Verdot offered me a place here. The village ostracized me for a very long time after that, and only took me back because my cousin found me here and realized I wasn't actually like that incident had implied. It was from him that I found out the so-called friend I had gone to rescue had actually been working with them, not a hostage, and no kidnapping had taken place."

The words made Auryn stare in something like shocked horror as a lot of things which had never made sense before about the man and his reactions suddenly started to make a lot of sense.

After a silence as Balto stared into his cup, he went on, "No, I'm not a nice man, but I have limits, and I have very specific triggers. I will never rape, and normally also don't torture. Those are largely useless other than to create fear, and fear never normally gives actual truth or honesty, it makes people tell you what you want to hear. When there are real dangers to the people in play, lies have no value and won't help us find the real danger." He paused for a moment, then gave a faint sigh. "But my strongest trigger, which causes me to torture, often to death, is being betrayed by someone I had thought was a friend or someone I thought I could trust."

"...No offense, but beyond what most people would see as an infrequent over-reaction, that doesn't qualify you as 'not a nice man'," Auryn offered tentatively.

"I also have a kink which, to people unfamiliar with the Lifestyle (1), would look like torture. I'm, in some ways, a sadist, and like having a masochistic sexual partner so I can cause them pain. It's a bonus that they get pleasure out of being caused pain. What I don't do—ever—is cause pain to a partner unwilling to feel it. Unfortunately, that trend was accidentally seen by a Shinra busy-body and made its way around the building. I let them capitalize on it only because I actually _do_ qualify as a sadist—'not a nice man'."

"Holy..." Auryn stared at him with wide eyes. It wasn't horror he felt, but realization of how absolutely _little_ he'd _ever_ known about Balto—his most protective brother—in the entire time he'd known 'him'. There hadn't been a single thing Balto had just told him which he'd already known, besides how Veld—Verdot—had offered to get him out of prison if he agreed to join the Turks, which Balto had done.

If he was honest with himself, after having actually ended up living in the Lifestyle Balto meant in two of the dimensions, the admission made him a great deal less frightening. At least in some ways. Balto's sexual preferences and kinks were known, even in the Lifestyle, to be interpreted as torture or abuse to those who knew nothing about it. At the same time, Auryn had found out that someone who adhered to the Lifestyle the way it was intended would never do something to someone if they either didn't want it or couldn't handle it—discipline, choice, and willingness were very strong, intrinsic parts of it, whether on the 'Dominant's' side or the 'submissive's' side during a 'scene'. In that regard, even knowing Balto was a sadist, also being aware that he adhered to the Lifestyle negated him from the 'not a nice man' category.

On the other hand, Balto's trigger was being betrayed, and some of Auryn's past actions in other dimensions had looked a lot like that—those had been the times where Balto had reacted so badly and done him the most harm. In one, he'd been trying to save the Turks from being executed, but doing that had meant getting Balto caught by terrorists before he could complete a mission. That Balto (or any other ones) had never given him a chance to explain what had happened to the Turks while the man had been away, and had resulted in his death. Balto's trigger being what it was also meant the Baltos who had done that hadn't actually been at all sane when they'd done it, whether they had been 'aware of their actions' or not. Every other time had been because of a similar situation.

It suddenly made sense. That didn't make it any easier to bear, and those instances were still going to be fodder for nightmares, but for the first time, he now knew how things had so badly devolved in those dimensions. And now he knew how to not repeat those instances any longer.

"Auryn?" the man asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

Blinking in surprise, the blond turned to him again and said, "Sorry. I just..."

"You don't have to try to explain," Balto replied. "Your expression is enough."

Looking away, Auryn said softly, "I never knew any of that before. It was never presented."

Cocking his head to the side, the man asked slowly, "Are you saying my past is a complete blank to your captors, even though they obviously know about several other Turks' pasts, some of those in great detail?"

"I don't know if they knew it or not," the boy sighed faintly. "They just never presented it to me, meaning it was a danger I could never mitigate—I haven't known the reason or the trigger until now."

For a long moment, Balto eyed him quietly, then gave a small nod. "I suppose, if they were trying to make you fear certain people, giving you ways to mitigate harm would have been counter-productive."

It was only right then when Auryn realized Balto had figured out the 'scenarios' he'd been going through, causing his eyes to widen in shock and fear. He started to curl into himself, losing some of his grip on reality—...

**Notes:**

(1) This capitalization isn't accidental, it's very deliberate and commonly used in 'the Lifestyle' to refer to it as something notably different from the collections of more ordinary general lifestyles out there. This 'Lifestyle' is BDSM, which is exceptionally complex and not solely based on sadism and masochism—people can be part of the Lifestyle without any pain elements at all. No, it's not 'about' abuse, as Auryn noted in his musing. However, to be clear on this, **the Lifestyle will only be alluded to in a few instances in the story**—it will never become a prominent thing, and no one in the story will visibly follow it. Readers will only know someone does, or has, because a character comments about it or someone's personal thoughts use it as an example or comparison, so there are no applicable warnings about it.


	15. 14-Puzzle Pieces

Puzzle Pieces

A soft voice spoke quietly into Auryn's ear while arms wrapped protectively around him, drawing him towards awareness again. "It's okay, Auryn. No one's going to hurt you. No one here is angry. It's okay. You'll be fine. Come back to reality now. That's it, deep breaths—in...and...out. Good. Again—in...and...out. There, keep breathing. In...and...out."

Those were the first words the boy could actively hear around the panic attack he was having right then. The instructions to breathe made sense as his mind came back down slowly out of panic, so he followed them and finally started to truly calm. By the time he'd returned to a state where he was as calm as he could be, he had realized it was Genesis who had just done that for him.

_Genesis_? Since when could _he_ ground someone who was having a panic attack? And why was he even _doing_ it? Mind you, he'd said right at the start that he had no intention of harming Auryn, anyway. Usually, that wouldn't have helped because Genesis had a record of accidentally making things worse rather than better, good intentions and all.

"Back with us now, Auryn?" Genesis asked quietly, his chest vibrating under Auryn's ear as he spoke.

"...Think so..." the blond murmured quietly.

"Good," the man said happily. "It looks like all my practice with you has really come in handy, Scarlet."

...Scarlet was prone to _panic attacks_? Didn't _that_ just explain a lot...Especially if that was a trend in every dimension.

"Right now, that's a good thing," the woman agreed in a dry tone. "But what actually happened?"

"I think it was a reaction to having been so open with me after being used to suffering for doing so. Rather, not that it was how he was 'open with me', but more like how he was so 'open' at all," Balto assessed. "And that's quite a can of worms. Either way, I don't particularly see how it's very relevant right now—he's going to react however he's going to react to people's behaviors."

"Right..." Scarlet blinked in mild surprise. "So, even though we're fine having him here for now, how do we get him safely back to his residence when it's time to go?"

Silence fell for a long minute before Genesis asked, "Do you even _know_ where the Guards are keeping him, Balto?"

"No," the man admitted. "But I'm fairly certain Doriss knows, so it may be best to start with her."

"Then get in touch with her after we've eaten," Scarlet stated, then moved over to tap Auryn on the shoulder. He looked up at her sleepily, so she said, "Now that the danger has passed, do you feel up to looking at some of my arrays? I remember you mentioned I may have been drawing ones which aren't in Materia, and Genesis has already gone over all the Materia-based ones with me. Maybe you'll know something about the others?"

Blinking, then blinking again, Auryn carefully pushed himself to a sitting position so he wasn't leaning on Genesis anymore. The man grinned and stood, letting him have his own space back. It didn't take long for the blond sixteen-year-old to meet Scarlet's gaze and offer, "I think I can look at them, but I won't promise anything." It was mostly because the familiarity of alchemy had always been a calming factor for him (except when he'd found out the main 'ingredient' for the Philosopher's Stone had been living human beings).

"That's fine," she agreed with a small smile, going back to the coffee table to retrieve a stack of papers. Those she handed to Auryn as she said, "Those are the ones Genesis didn't recognize." Both she and Genesis peered at him with curious interest as he began going through him—then turned to stare at one another in surprise for a moment as he stopped and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

He _hated_ it when people systematically imprinted harmful arrays!

"Is something wrong?" Genesis asked, breaking into his mental temper tantrum.

Turning back to the stack, Auryn kept flipping through it, pulling several out from the main stack, two because those were also Materia arrays and the other seven were non-harmful ones. He then turned his gaze to Genesis and Scarlet and handed them the two Materia arrays, saying, "Those two also come from Materia. Very _rare_ Materia. One is for Knights of the Round, arguably the strongest existing Summon, and the other is for a spell called Purify on a Materia called Cleanse. It almost exclusively develops in a very difficult-to-access region northeast of Bone Village on the Northern Continent, and there's no record of it at this point. No Shinra record, at least."

"Really?" Genesis asked with interest, taking both to look at closely. "I'll study these further, then, because they're really unique. What about the others you separated out?"

With a small sigh, the blond boy gave his head a shake and said, "The seven I took out from the rest are as unique unto themselves as the larger stack. I separated these into these two stacks because the larger stack belongs to arrays which would intrinsically cause harm, while the smaller stack provides help or healing in some form."

Genesis and Scarlet traded startled looks, then the woman asked, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Um..." the younger blond murmured, thinking about who was drawing them for a moment. "I don't know that it's quite a 'good or bad' thing. You were probably getting them because you're a weapons engineer—you like things which are powerful, dangerous, capable of causing harm, and hopefully go 'boom!' somewhere along the way." The words made all three snort, followed by Scarlet giggling. When she stopped, Auryn went on, "They're pretty much useless to you, and they definitely don't work in many places, so I don't think they're that much of a threat—only a Mage could activate them at the best of times."

"Do you know why they can be used in some places, but not others?" Genesis asked in surprise.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Auryn replied, just so he could fudge having to give them those details just then.

"Okay. Don't you need Materia to use things like that?" Scarlet asked.

"If that was the case, why don't these have Materia shards?" Auryn asked softly. She tipped her head to the side as Genesis gave the younger blond a thoughtful look. "And if you look at them closely compared to the multitudes of arrays found in a Materia shard, you'd also find these ones have the coding in them which would normally belong in the sub-arrays in the Materia shards. The sub-arrays are very detailed additional instructions operating the main arrays—they provide limiters so the spells can't be mis-used, even by Mages who know how to manipulate them. These are different—they only have as many limiters as they _must_ have to prevent a rebound, but are otherwise free-flowing and do whatever you can imagine within the minimal terms given in the array form."

"Rebound?" Scarlet asked as Genesis asked, "Free-flowing?"

Balto snorted as Auryn blinked, but then the younger man sighed and explained, "These arrays are generalized. There's one here that's for manipulating fire. Rather, it creates it using a spark, then _you_ decide entirely what it's going to _do_. You could make it start a pile of tinder on fire so you can cook food, turn into an explosive some distance away to act as a bomb, cremate someone, cauterize a wound. The array itself doesn't limit how it's going to work, that's up to your own imagination. But arrays which are so open-ended run the risk of not working the way you were trying to make it work, because unlike Materia arrays, they need materials."

"Why would they need materials, and what kind of materials do you mean?" Balto asked in confusion, startling the others.

"The materials depend on what you want to do," Auryn sighed. Was it okay to share this? Minerva didn't seem too worried about him doing it, so he decided to go on with his explanation. "In the case of creating fire, it needs a spark and oxygen for materials, for example. Neither is hard to get. These arrays, free-flowing as they are, take their materials from a designated sphere around the array's location, so will use anything within that space—air particles, soil, a vial of acid. Or it'll use what it needs to of what's in its range."

"So—I'll hazard a guess here—" Genesis began thoughtfully. "One major cause of rebound is if someone thought they had the materials they needed in the space, but actually didn't have them."

"That usually causes them to fizzle out, though in some cases, especially with things which manipulate live beings—humans and animals—those can end up causing a rebound, and usually do," the blond clarified.

"Then what else would cause a rebound?" the red haired man asked in confusion.

"...In the case of fire, you have a spark and oxygen. What do you think happens to the spark if you also had, say, gasoline in gas form inside your sphere of influence?" the younger asked in a dry tone. All three of the older's eyes went huge with realization. "If they have something in their range which the materials can interact badly with, they probably will. But the single most common reason for a rebound is having made the array incorrectly, causing conflicting energy flows or instructions. Free-flowing arrays are hand-drawn and the instructions are determined by the one drawing them. It's easy to make a mistake, and it takes a great deal of time and research to work out a new array. One mistake and you could send a whole continent to kingdom come."

All three gaped at him again, so he looked at Balto and said, "And to answer your other question, the materials are needed because free-flowing arrays aren't being boosted by raw planetary power, but that 'raw planetary power' _also_ doesn't normally create a permanent effect. Healing is one notable exception. All free-flowing arrays create permanent effects you can only possibly get rid of with a new, free-flowing array designed to counteract the first effect, or by using the same array on the original effect with the intent to get a new result. The materials are what gives them the stability to do that, but you also get far less of an energy charge that way. The Planet is big compared to us. What it takes as 'a little' energy is shit-loads of it to us, and Materia operate on the Planet's 'shit-loads' of bits of energy, hence the lack of need for materials."

"...Well...That's...Enlightening..." Genesis muttered, looking stunned.

"Why would people have ever called something so dangerous a 'science'?" Scarlet asked in shock.

That time, Auryn _had_ to snort. "Asks the woman who creates weapons which could wipe out a continent for a living."

"That's a valid point," Balto had to admit in wry amusement. "Our traditional science and engineering are just as dangerous as these, and more easily accessible and usable than something only a select portion of the population could even use." He then slapped his hands down on the tops of his thighs and said, "Now, I believe it's time to eat, then I'll call Doriss."

"I'll call the cafeteria to bring us food," Scarlet immediately agreed, reaching over her desk for the desk phone.

It didn't take long for the meals for the four of them to arrive, and they ate mostly to either silence or Genesis and Scarlet's banter and snickering. Oddly, Auryn could have called it 'pleasant' if he hadn't only been there on everyone's good graces. He was very well aware that he wasn't actually supposed to be there, and was really only being 'put up with' more than anything. It was likely he wouldn't be so lucky a second time...

But he could hope, couldn't he?

No, that was dangerous.

After they had eaten, Balto pulled out his PHS and dialed a number. When it was answered, he asked, "Have you gotten to the office yet?" The answer came quickly, causing him to ask, "Would you happen to know where to return the Guards' new stray to?" That time, the answer took longer, and caused him to cock a brow. He then said abruptly, "Doriss, to head off your accusations, why don't you solve the problem for us by telling Verdot I need you to run an errand for me while I'm stuck in Scarlet's office on thirty-nine on the President's orders and come see for yourself?" There was another silence before he hung up and smirked.

His gaze then moved to Auryn as he asked, "You wouldn't happen to know why one of my fellow Hounds is apparently—mother-lion-like protective of a cub towards you, would you?"

If he could have flushed, the younger blond would have done so, but as it was, he covered his face with his hands, shoulders slumping in something like defeat—which caused Genesis and Scarlet to laugh (_there_ was her very annoying 'kya ha ha' laugh, but tempered somewhat) as Balto smirked.

"Looks like the Lady Hound adopted him," Scarlet put in, still looking very amused.

Auryn just sighed into his hands.

FoWD

Eonna was very upset as she made her way to Lady Shinra's office with a file folder in her hands. She had been assigned to finding out who the 'Veld' person was who Auryn had mentioned to Doctor Crescent the first time he'd met with her, and had realized she'd bitten off more than she could chew. Even just touching the tip of the iceberg was enough to send her reeling, and she knew it was time to turn it over to people with more power and influence—Vincent and Lady Shinra. There was no way she could do any more on her own.

At the office, the door was open, so she stepped in, took a quick look around—Lenno and Verde were there, along with Vincent and Lady Shinra, which was fine—and shut the door behind her. All of them sat up straighter as they saw that, watching intently as she approached the desk.

"Can I hazard a guess and say you found something on Veld?" Vincent asked softly.

"I did," Eonna agreed tersely. "But—I have a suspicion that this leads back to the assholes who were after Kariya's youngest daughter, and don't have the skills to verify that for certain. I'm good, but not good enough for _that_ kind of hacking."

"What did you find out, then?" he asked, gaze worried.

"Back—around twenty years ago, I guess, Shinra had a 'military hospital' which had supposedly been installed in the top floors of Midgar's central support pillar," Eonna began. "You knew about that, right?"

"It was done temporarily to care for Infantry and early SOLDIER trials who were injured in the rash of monster attacks back then, and lasted for about three years, when the attacks tapered off. I wasn't allowed to access it," Lady Shinra replied, jaw tense. "Why is this relevant now?"

"They sent a lot of men there for care. Of them, how many, even of the doctors, came back out by the time it was shut down?" the dark haired Turk asked shrewdly. Vincent and Lady Shinra traded looks, then the Director motioned for her to go on. "About ten percent of them were seen again. The other ninety—vanished." Four pairs of eyes widened. "Of those, some of the first ones sent there included a man named Veld Diama. He's also one of the ones who vanished, with no records stating whether he was dead or alive, and the only thing we know is that he didn't leave via any traceable means."

At that point, Eonna paused and offered the file folder to Vincent, who took it. "By looking further into the core support pillar, I started finding records which didn't add up. There's a Reactor Zero, did you know that?" Vincent looked up sharply as Lady Shinra's eyes widened. "It powers Shinra Headquarters, the trains around the core, and the maintenance hatches throughout the core area. The problem is, we can't _find_ it, even though we know it exists. Basically, we have a 'ghost Reactor' powering us. Add to that the complete lack of evidence of a medical facility in the core pillar and the hundreds of people who vanished without a trace from said facility, and what are you left with?"

As Vincent went back to the file, his expression disturbed, Eonna went on, "It gets better."

"Define 'better', Eonna, before you use that word for this situation a second time," Vincent cut in, voice terse.

"Fine," the woman replied in a dry tone. "But looking into what decidedly sparse records there still are for that same ghost facility led me to several different research projects, both past and current. Doctor Valentine and Crescent's work on Chaos and Omega Theory and stagnant Mako, the Jenova Project, old and failed metamorphose experiments—those even predate Professor Gast—just to name a few. Looking further produced...not really dead ends, but blanks. There are holes where data _should_ be, and it's blatantly obvious those holes are there, but no indication of where the data _went_.

"I'll add one more oddity to the list, just to make it more interesting. We periodically have disappearances from SOLDIER applicants, Science Department applicants, and injured combat personnel across the board—Infantry, SOLDIER, the Turks, though the last is rare. Random people vanishing from the city always happened, but whoever's making _these_ people vanish might be behind some of them. Also, there are records of our troops, injured or otherwise, vanishing from their stations across the Planet, and some investigations have found those disappearances happening to the Wutain troops as well. Then, there's people who show unique skills, such as one Shelke Rui, who seem to be vanishing as well, and we know from the incident with her that they're being kidnapped by people trying to pass themselves off as SOLDIER lookalikes."

The Lady Turk stopped for a moment as she realized the other occupants of the office were staring at her in fascinated horror. "You tell me, Director, what have we stumbled onto? And how in Hades are we going to figure out the rest of it?"

Lady Shinra sighed and said, "It looks like we just stumbled onto the start of the evidence to prove Deepground exists."

All three Turks looked confused, but Vincent turned to her and said, "So it seems. The only question now is, who can we get to dig further into this?"

The woman was silent for a minute as she thought, then finally shook her head with a sigh. "Our best bet is Ansha, but I'm not inclined to risk her this way just yet. For now, we'll leave things as they are—I want Auryn in a mostly stable mental state before we start digging too deeply into dangerous territory. If we also assume Deepground is my husband's pet hidden army, he—and it—is as dangerous to the Hounds as to us. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to create it. I'm suddenly very thankful we were able to stop Shelke from being taken by her kidnappers."

"That's certainly true," Vincent agreed. "In that case, we'll wait until we've seen the results of Lucrecia's attempt to stabilize his emotional state." He turned to Eonna and said to her, "Thank you for finding all of this, and so quickly. As you heard, we're going to wait and hold off on further digging for a bit, because this won't lead to something nice once we do the serious investigation. You've given us a good starting point and overview, and we'll need your help again when we pick it up again. In the meantime, get some rest, take tomorrow off."

For a moment, Eonna blinked at him, then gave a small sigh of relief and agreed, "I'll do that, then. Thanks." She felt her shoulders relaxing as she turned to leave, and Lenno quickly followed after her.

"You look really, really tense—a little better now that you know you have a break, but still tense," he commented, tugging gently on her ponytail. "Shall we go find an interesting bar to play in?" He looked amused as he asked the question.

Raising a brow, she asked in amusement, "And you can afford to do that? While _I_ have time off, _you_ don't, Lenno, dear."

"I'm planning to make sure _you_ have a good time and get home safely, not drink myself into a stupor," he replied cheerfully. "And Bloody Valentine's good with me ditching early to help you relax. We all realized as you shared your data that you really had a tough time of what you were finding."

After a moment of silence, she turned to look at him and gave a nod. "Let's get changed and head out, then." They traded smiles and headed to their apartments.

FoWD

When Doriss let Auryn into her apartment, she shut the door and faced him to ask, "How did _that_ happen? The truth, Auryn, please."

He looked away for a moment, then met her gaze and said, "I was on thirty-nine when a SOLDIER First named Dante found me and—I'd rather not go into what he tried to do. I managed to keep my head enough to run, and ran right into Scarlet. She shot Dante in the head, then took me back to her office with her, just letting me sit there while she worked, until she had a breakthrough on a prototype, caused the building to rock, and got the President there. When he left, he had Genesis and Balto stay so she didn't do that again."

"Did either of them hurt you, or try to?" Doriss asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she regarded him shrewdly.

At that, the younger blond gave a small, wry smile and said, "No. I hurt myself with a panic attack—you know, assuming I'm about to be hurt for something I said?—and...er, Genesis managed to pull me out of it. But you're not worried about Scarlet doing anything?"

"I'm well aware she's capable of holding her own in a fight, but she's no more inclined to hurt random people for their affiliation than _I_ am, Auryn," Doriss said bluntly. "I know that—I go to her office when I want to be away from the battle lines because of it. So does Kariya, and there are a few other Turks who do it, too. Her office is essentially neutral territory for us all. The one I was most worried about was Balto—even Genesis didn't worry me as much, that peacock."

Giving his head a small shake, the boy said, "He was fine. I don't know what, or if, he'll pass on to Ve—rdot, but for his part, he actually _was_ trying to help me feel more comfortable around him."

With a small sigh, she nodded. "I have mixed feelings about letting you out on your own again, but I won't rule it out just now. For today, though, you should get back to your own apartment and get some rest—it sounds like you need it after having a panic attack. Twice."

He blinked at her shrewdness on that point, then gave her a faint smile and turned to the balcony doors. He heard her apartment door close behind her as she left to return to the Turks' office and work, and soon after, he was safely in his own bed—and for the first time in a long time, he actually slept soundly.


	16. 15-Past Relevance

Past Relevance

After the day he'd had with Scarlet, Genesis, and Balto, Auryn was more than happy to just stay in and do nothing but read for the next few days. He had a lot to think about.

While his sleep had been oddly good the same night as his unexpected visiting session, since he'd woken the following morning, peace had been an illusion he'd only gotten by forcing his attention to move to the text he'd been reading. It didn't take him long to realize he wasn't getting much reading done, but he tried very hard for most of the first four days. When he returned from lunch with Kariya on the fifth day, however, another attempt at reading resulted in the same effect, so he gave up on that and just laid down to rest and try to figure out what was bothering him.

No, he _knew_ what was bothering him, and it had stemmed directly from what Balto and he had talked about.

'Sanity' hadn't actually been high on his priority list for a long time. Neither had 'logic' outside anything but his alchemy arrays. It had been very easy to allocate all the people he'd cared about to one blanket term: torturers. Rather, it had been hard to accept, but once accepted, easy to do, and very easy to react to by the corresponding history he'd had with them. It hadn't really been either a sane response, or a logical one, though it also was a valid one—until then, he'd never realized that kind of oxymoron could even exist. Probably the only oxymoron he'd been able to validate before then was 'hard water'. Completely a different thing.

People who had always come through for him, people he'd trusted just as much as he had Al, Winry, or Teacher, suddenly becoming the exact opposite had been devastating to his psyche. He already knew that. It had actually become less devastating the more the pattern had held, just become a fact of his life, and he had begun to wonder if he'd imagined the first dimension. It had been a pretty dream to make up for his sorrow at losing his home and everyone he'd ever cared about in Amestris. Believing that had been too easy in the end, because it had made the agony less painful—emotionally, at least.

But now, knowing the logic both Tseng and Balto were operating on and knowing to what trends those traits applied, it was like he'd had a rug pulled out from under him and fallen through a hole in the floor in the process. Everything he'd tried to lessen by placing in a blanket category of acceptance wasn't working anymore. They were again showing him the kindness he'd seen from the first dimension, and it had turned every wound between then and now raw and painful. A part of him registered how he felt like he was bleeding inside now—the acceptance wasn't so easy to accept, and the scabs had been pulled off the wounds.

To make matters worse, to now be aware of ways he could have lessened his blows in other dimensions was just as painful as not knowing why. Rather, if he was honest with himself, it was more painful to be hit in the face with the realization that he could have been doing things all along to help himself, but had somehow never been close enough, _even to the ones in the first dimension_, for them to tell him these things. And yet, the ones in his current dimension seemed to want to share with a complete stranger. Minerva's help aside, if his mental state was the major reason they were sharing, that didn't bode well on many levels.

It was like a slap in the face. "We care about you, but we don't trust you to know our pasts, even though we know yours."

The only thing which made it anything like a little better was how much he'd known about Tseng and the three top SOLDIERs. But even then, it hurt to realize the actual gap in knowledge he'd been left with, even though he'd always known some things in all dimensions were universal. Turks were still always Turks, Shinra executives were always Shinra executives, Hojo had a certain amount of sadistic tendencies, and Fuhito was always psychotic. Though, despite his sadism, Hojo had been an oddly kind man in one dimension, largely because it was Lucrecia who was insane and possessed by Jenova—that was the one in which she'd tried to kill him.

That dimension had just been ass backwards, in a lot of ways, though.

Regardless of similarities, they had never managed to tell him things, even when he'd asked. They told him bits and pieces, but not enough to know how to improve things, or they had never told him anything. If the Doctor was right and Minerva had genetically modified him to act as a kind of truth serum automatically, what had gone so wrong in all the previous dimensions that it hadn't worked out that way? He got it in the first one—he hadn't asked, too focused on data hunting and trying to save the world—but in the successive ones, he had been more involved in life itself.

And none of that helped him resolve the issue of how painful it was to see that kindness again, how much it hurt to be reminded they didn't _have_ to be his torturers. What made it worse was how badly he wanted those kind people back, but how he was so conditioned to pain from them that he couldn't let it go. It would be a long time before he'd be able to, and that assumed no one ever actually tortured him between now and the time when he may be able to accept them as friends and family again.

At about the time Kariya would have been preparing supper, he came to Auryn's apartment, found him huddled in bed, and asked in alarm, "Do I need to call Doctor Crescent for you?"

"No..." Auryn muttered dazedly, managing to unwind himself from the ball he'd curled into while he'd been thinking. "Just—thinking. Hard. Is it supper already?"

For a long moment, the man gazed at him, then said, "Close. I was going to invite you to come have supper at a restaurant in town with Shalua and Shelke. The way you look right now, though, that may not be the best idea."

Giving a bit of an absent wave, Auryn—who realized he wasn't all there right then—said, "I probably won't have a panic attack like this, at least."

Kariya snorted and admitted, "Possibly. If you're up for it, get changed and cleaned up and we'll head out. I'll just warn them not to expect too much interaction from you today."

"'Kay..." the younger man replied with a bit of an unexpected yawn, but he pushed himself up.

It didn't take him long to get dressed in something he hadn't just been wearing for about twenty-four hours and freshen up, so Kariya led him out of the building and to a car parked in the parking garage across the street from the Shinra building in Sector 2. from there, they drove towards the edge of the Upper Plate a few Sectors over from where the garage was. That was also the first time Auryn realized how rarely he'd actually been in a car during his entire life—he'd been in a _helicopter_ more often than he had a regular automobile. The realization was mind-boggling in a different way from everything else he'd been thinking about, and much shorter-lived.

"You wanna share with me what's got you thinking so hard?" Kariya asked quietly as they drove. He'd turned on some radio music to a station which played mellow songs, so with his voice soft, Auryn assessed it as a very strong attempt to relax him before asking. In a way, that was rather thoughtful and almost...cute, the blond finally decided to call it. And it was vaguely bemusing at the same time.

Giving a small, absent wave, Auryn answered, "I got so used to thinking of everyone as torturers. It was easier, less painful, if I was _expecting_ it and it happened than if I wasn't and it did. But then I also began to realize I really knew very little about the people I had once called 'family' and 'friends' back then. I guess it's like...were they ever really my friends or family if I didn't know a fraction about them that I've learned about them since Verde and Tseng brought me back here? What really hurts is thinking I had cared so much, but the feeling had never truly been returned, even in the first one."

For a minute, Kariya was silent, but then he asked, "Are you talking about knowing our pasts, or something else?"

"Knowing your pasts...knowing your reasons for why you do certain things...They seem to go hand-in-hand," the younger of the two sighed softly.

"I'm not so sure that's either valid or true," the older man replied. Auryn turned his head to look at him in a mix of puzzlement and betrayal. With a small smile, the Turk said, "I'm not negating your pain, I'm saying our pasts aren't actually necessary factors to our triggers, or vice versa. Some of that factors into the decisions we make, but in the normal course of events, observation of people you care about tends to lead to a realization of certain patterns—regardless of knowing that past. Betrayal is a painful thing to anyone who experiences it—it's a universal trigger, some people just have a more extreme reaction than others, for example. Were you aware of the full scope of your actions every time you did something? Maybe you were trying for one result, and it had an unfortunate side-effect."

The man paused for a minute as Auryn mentally commended his shrewdness, then the Turk went on, "I may have bluntly told you I joined Shinra, the Turks, and the Guards because it would let me police the Infantry, but if you had simply paid attention to my behavior, would you _really not_ have realized what I was doing? What's interesting is that they somehow never made the 'Death God of the Battlefield' into one of your torturers when I've actively tortured SOLDIERs and Turks before—that's a known fact of my history as an anti-Shinra terrorist. If anything, I should have been a prime candidate to become one of your torturers—so what about me or my behaviors made me never fill that role? Think back on everything they let you see of me, assess it, and ask yourself what made me so different."

"...Why should I do that?" Auryn asked, still confused about what the man wanted. "I mean—what will assessing that show me?"

"Try it and see if you can figure that out for yourself," the orange haired man replied, looking a little amused.

Auryn blinked at him slowly, then turned back to the view out the window as he thought. What _had_ kept every Kariya he'd met from becoming one of his torturers? In light of the point that the man literally had a history of torture, why had he never resorted to it with Auryn? He knew the premise the man was operating under was slightly flawed, and Kariya likely assumed 'they' thought it would be easy enough for an anti-Shinra terrorist to go back to it, making him not really an enemy. The blond knew better, both in the fact that Kariya wouldn't go back on his decision and how his having been an anti-Shinra terrorist had nothing to do with it.

What he knew about the terrorist-turned-Turk was that he assessed the data in front of him critically, then made a decision. He may change the decision later with new data, but not to go back to where he came from, he did it to move forward into something new. It was a rather distinctive trait for Kariya. He never made a decision until he was sure of his next step forward, then took that step without looking back for anything besides the experience and knowledge itself—he wasn't terribly 'attached' to any particular state of being or position in his life.

In a way, it would be taken as self-evolution, or enlightenment, and required the person to know oneself very, very well, something most humans couldn't do.

Suddenly, it clicked in Auryn's mind and he lifted a shaking hand to his head with a self-derisive snort. He was a complete and utter fool. Even after so many years, after so many times reliving the same years and meeting the same people, he'd never reached the point of enlightenment Kariya had. In its own right, that was painful—he should have been able to realize some of the same things the other man had by this point, to become enlightened to some degree. Not to mention, his not having realized what Kariya was getting at with the question and assessment until now was painful because it was something _else_ he'd completely missed, like how he'd missed how useful the Shapeshift Materia could be.

"Think you've figured it out?" the man asked gently into his mental tirade of calling himself all kinds of fool.

With a small sigh, Auryn admitted, "You never move backwards, you only move forwards. Anytime you leave something behind, the actions you assessed as incorrect don't move forward with you, so as long as they introduced me to you while you were a Turk, they could never have had you torture me—you had left that behind when you left the terrorist phase of your life. And now I feel _even worse_ for not even knowing _myself_ a fraction as well as you know yourself—and apparently everyone around you—after all the multitudes of lives I've lived."

With a small sigh, Kariya said in a dry tone, "No offense, but I think they prevented you from being able to do so by always sending you back to the state you started in, and reenforced it with the suffering they caused you. And you can't rightly compare yourself to me, even based on the length of time you've been alive by the time you've spent in those scenarios."

"Are you trying to say they didn't age me?" the younger man asked, trying to glare and only managing a small pout. He just didn't have the energy to get angry.

"No. I don't think your captors know the most crucial part of my past, but it effectively means I'm thousands of years old, with all that knowledge and experience to draw on, regardless of the state of my physical body," the man said quietly, head tipped so he'd be able to see both the road and Auryn.

First, Auryn's brain stalled. Then he looked sharply at the man and said bluntly, "Only Eidolons can make a claim like that."

The orange haired man looked amused, but inclined his head in recognition. "Yes, and no. I'm not entirely sure what I actually am now, but it's not an Eidolon, and it's not entirely a human, either. Though, I'd have to say I'm much, much closer to human than anything else, and it's really only my knowledge base which currently differentiates me from normal humans. I also don't qualify as a half-Summon, or half-Eidolon if you prefer."

"I tend to use the term 'Eidolon' for free-roamers and 'Summon' for Materia-bound ones these days," the blond sighed softly again, leaning his head against the window. "There are half-Eidolons? How can you be an Eidolon without being one?"

Kariya chuckled and replied, "You've had one right in front of you since those scenarios started, Auryn. Though, you'd never know it unless his essence reactivated. As for how I came to be like this...I told you what happened when I was fourteen, right?" At the younger's noise of agreement, he went on, "I was shot by the Infantry several times, and by all rights, I should have died. There had been a man I'd met, something like a mentor to me, who had helped me out a lot since I'd met him, but at the time, I hadn't realized he may be anything other than human. As I lay dying in the street, I suddenly saw him looking down at me—and wanted so badly to live, or to thank him, or _something_. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the terrorists' facility and feeling rather displaced.

"I guess I had been piggy-backing on his mind, his thoughts, at the time, and when he looked in the bathroom mirror and saw _my_ face instead of his own, he searched for my mind. His doing so—I guess finished the process of merging us together, and I can't separate 'him' from 'me', even if I know some of my knowledge had to've come from him. What I found out is that he was an Odin Eidolon who had been alive for around—well, he stopped counting centuries ago, so my only frame of reference is two sets of meteors falling about a thousand years apart. I know the first was what formed the Northern Crater, so he's older than three thousand years. I sincerely doubt your scenarios have given you _quite_ so much extra time or knowledge to work with, and that's besides the experiments and torture you suffered which he, and I, never did."

"...Merged you? As in, you're sharing the same body and memories, but you can communicate with one another?" Auryn asked carefully.

Shaking his head, the older man told him, "No. There's no difference between his soul and mine, his mind and mine. Awareness is the only reason I can usually tell some of my behaviors stem from him while others are my own, but I have no one to talk with and no other presence in me. If Vincent is right, our soul-merging was actually completely accidental and not able to be replicated. It doesn't seem to be an issue for the Lifestream, or I guess Ifalna would have said something by now, but it _does_ mean I've had to learn a very different perspective of life than most people. I move forward without falling back on the old, familiar patterns because falling back is a sure way to walk into depression, and depression can lead easily to death."

"...Familiar patterns...lead to depression...?" the boy asked softly, a sinking feeling coming over him.

Hold on, shouldn't Ifalna—Aeris' mother—have been long since dead?

"You already know certain actions, patterns, and behaviors will cause an unfavorable result. Logically, the appropriate course of action is to change whatever was causing the unfavorable result, not to keep doing the same thing that didn't work. People have an unfortunate tendency to keep repeating the same actions, somehow expecting a different result from something proven to not work. That's also true of bringing back your own memories and emotional responses to things which happened in the past, and the more you focus on the bad things you've experienced, the more likely you are to just give up and die. They've given you a lot of fodder and made it hard for you to ever see everything you've suffered as experiences you know you don't like and won't repeat. No one can force you to do so, either. All we can do is help you overcome the pain until it no longer controls you," Kariya explained gently.

For a long moment, Auryn had to just process what he'd been told, then he had to ask, "Why are you sharing this with me when you obviously don't make a habit of it?"

There was a pause as Kariya crossed a busy intersection, then the man asked, "How many years do you suppose they added to your 'life' by making you repeat those same years over and over again?"

"...Maybe...Around three hundred?" the blond had to guess.

He hadn't really made an effort to count the years, and he sure hadn't tried to count the piece-meal ones which had amounted to a few weeks or less. The number of those had been quite high, but had likely only added about a year, max, to his 'time'. There had been three major ones which had added time, each of those between fifteen and twenty years, though he hadn't really been sane for one of them. That he'd found his sanity again in the following dimension had been something of a miracle. Most of them had fallen generally between one and five years, but even the majority of those had been around four or five. About a dozen had ranged between six and ten. Oddly, none had fallen between ten and fifteen years. The total was likely not too far off what he'd estimated.

"Do you think you'd take my advice better from a normal, forty-four-year-old man or from a man you know has over three thousand years more experience than you, given how you have more than the average person?" the orange haired man asked shrewdly. "In this case, I wanted you to _hear_ me and _think_ about it, not dismiss it out of hand, so sharing that with you just now would be appropriate."

Auryn just felt more tired by the revelation. One point was still missing, so he asked, "About me not knowing anyone's pasts...Why is that 'not important'?"

"Unless it specifically comes back to bite you, the past isn't a fraction as important as who the person is right now. I think no one ever asked you about _yours_, did they? It was only because it came back to bite you that any of it was ever known. Even as things are now, we need certain details because they're actively affecting you _now_, but we're not asking for anything unrelated to that. You are who you are _now_, not who you were in the past, and it's the 'you' in front of us we need to deal with—anything else from the past doesn't really matter. That's not actually what decides who you are now—what decides who you are now is _you_, your choices, actions, beliefs, and all of those are things you can pick for yourself. Up until now, your ability to do so was stifled, but maybe now you'll be able to move forward properly. Time will tell."

The words had the added effect of putting him right back into the dazed state the discussion had been drawing him out of, adding to everything he had to think about. At that point, Kariya fell silent as well, only speaking again when they got to the restaurant where he'd agreed to meet Shalua and Shelke. Dazed or not, meeting them was one of the strangest experiences he'd had yet, if only because he'd _never_ seen Shelke behave like a normal girl, whether she'd reached Deepground's hands or not.

When she hadn't reached Deepground, she'd defaulted to service to SOLDIER, and had become the first known female to be given the J-cell infused Mako treatments previously only given to men (since no one knew about the women in Deepground, like Rosso and Argento). Their training was also still harsh, and she just wasn't the same after a short time of it—the kind of training they did was hard on willing Cadets at age fourteen or older, so for a nine-year-old girl, it wasn't anything like nice. Her only relief had come from Reeve. In two dimensions, Veld had managed to spin the situation in such a way that the President agreed to turn her over to the Turks—again, still harsh for a child her age, but those had previously left her the most human he'd seen her before.

In this one, she was smiling, happy, spoke with a sort of chirping sound in her voice which was reminiscent of Genesis in full peacock mode, and generally liked to babble a mile a minute to anyone who would listen. Shalua was quiet and somewhat reserved, more studious despite her obvious inclination towards energetic activities, but she viewed Auryn with far more suspicion than Shelke did. Actually, it was more accurate to say that Shalua viewed _everyone_ with far more suspicion than Shelke did, and was only marginally less cool towards Kariya than she was towards Auryn, especially after Kariya informed them Auryn probably wouldn't interact with them much that day—he'd ended up too deeply in his own mind.

When they sat down at the table in the restaurant, Shelke quickly found that she could babble all she liked to Auryn without him telling her to stop, so she did. For a few minutes, Kariya and Shalua both just stared at her as she told the blond boy all about her lessons with her tutor and everything she did on a daily basis, and the movies she'd gotten to watch, and so on. They then traded looks, gave one another amused smiles, and began talking amongst themselves instead—at least Auryn was actively looking at Shelke, dazed or not, so they assumed he was hearing what she was saying (and he was, to an extent).

Then she talked about her new Materia class and what she'd read in their book so far, saying, "I can use it pretty easily, the healing stuff especially, but because there's no logic to any of the spells, it's hard to get started at first."

"That's not true, though," Auryn said quietly, rousing a bit at the mention of Materia, which automatically equated alchemy in his mind. She stared at him with wide, shocked eyes, as did Shalua and Kariya, as he went on, "They operate on all the same scientific equations and rules you already know, just laid out differently and powered by planetary energy instead of technology."

"Really?" Shelke gasped. "Tell me! Show me! Maybe it'll make more sense if that's all true!"

Obediently, Auryn explained to her alchemy and Materia and how the spells functioned, showing her a sample of an array—only for her to show that, like Scarlet, she had also been imprinting arrays from a very young age, though hers were mostly healing and status effect types.

Kariya and Shalua just watched and listened in amazement as the two worked, and Shelke began to grasp what Auryn was explaining, her joy and fascination palpable.


	17. 16-Meetings

Meetings

When Kariya and Auryn returned to the Shinra building, they found Vincent and Tseng waiting for them at Kariya's apartment, so he let them all inside, then asked, "So what brings you here?"

"We now have that meeting with Tseng's friend in the Slums set up," Vincent replied, stopping Auryn from heading through the door to Kariya's room. He turned back to them, expression still partly dazed, but alert enough to hear what they had to say. For that, Kariya was thankful—it would have been harder to retrieve him after he'd gone back to his own apartment than to have him hold off on going to it in the first place.

It was Tseng who went on, "Since you already know about the Sector 5 Slum Church, we agreed to meet there. In the afternoon four days from today, most of the Hounds will be away from the building—so will most of the Guards, and many of the SOLDIERs, actually—so we felt that would be the best time with the least Shinra interference possible. If you're feeling up to it, Auryn, I want to visit in the mornings to start actively teaching you the method for self-calming. Until you trust me more, meditation won't be possible, since you can't meditate if you're on high alert."

"Also, Doctor Crescent has given Tseng a tranquilizer for you if it becomes necessary, since her trying to reach you there will be both difficult and time-consuming. Time is something you won't have if you do, for some reason, have an attack," Vincent added. "We can hope for the best, but better to be prepared."

"...So it's all arranged, is what you're saying?" Auryn asked slowly.

"It is," the Wutain Turk agreed.

"...I guess I'll see you in the morning, then," the blond agreed with a small sigh, then turned and went into Kariya's room. It was obvious he felt his part in the discussion was done.

"So...What was _that_ all about?" Vincent asked Kariya with a raised brow.

Rubbing the back of his head with one hand, Kariya replied, "He's been in a daze for most of the day, trying to work through the actual points of difference between this reality and the previous ones he's lived through. I'm not sure what the trigger was, though—as far as I know, he was just reading during the last few days."

Vincent gave a thoughtful little hum, then said, "I'm not so sure of that, but we'll see. You look out of sorts. Did something happen while you were out?"

"Just—that kid definitely knows more about Materia than the Commander does," Kariya shrugged. "Sees the arrays the Commander swears they operate by, too."

The other two Turks traded startled looks, then Tseng commented, "That would technically fit with what we saw at the cave he turned into his home in the mountains. I can't think of any other way he could have done it, but that would have required significant changes to the so-called existing instructions for how the spells will function. How did you find this out?"

"Shelke started babbling to him about her Materia class, so he started explaining to her how he sees what's going on. Strangely enough, he made a lot more sense than the textbooks do," the orange haired Turk explained in wry amusement. "If that translates positively in Shalua and Shelke's ability to use Materia, well...I guess we'll see. I'd be in favor of getting lessons from him, though, if it works."

"What's impressive about it is that he doesn't appear to react poorly to the topic of Materia, magic, and those arrays," Vincent put in thoughtfully. "Setting aside what 'he can do for us', this is something which doesn't cause him problems, so it may also be something we can use to distract him from having some of his panic attacks."

"...That's true," both Tseng and Kariya agreed.

"Fine, let's all think more on how to apply this tonight, and get some rest. For the mornings until the planned visit, Auryn will be in Tseng's care, and we'll see how things go from there. A lot of work needs to get done on Lucrecia's end before we delve too deeply into anything else we've learned about," the Director said.

"Hey, before you go, could I ask you something?" the orange haired Turk asked quietly. At Vincent's nod, he said, "I know you didn't want me to approach Gen—the Commander until later, but...I remember how I felt being blindsided by finding out my son was alive, and I'd really rather not have him blindsided the same way. Would it be possible if I found ways to meet with him, maybe hint that we may know something about his birth family, even if I don't directly say I'm his father?"

"That would be great—if there was a way to 'meet with him' by those terms," Tseng put in dryly, gaze amused.

"You've never been to Scarlet's office before, have you? Besides for work," Kariya asked the Wutain.

When Tseng gave a puzzled frown, Vincent commented, "Her office is neutral territory. Normally, it isn't work which gets discussed there between her visitors, it's mostly just general visiting time. It would _also_ mean there would be witnesses to your discussions, and they may _also_ realize the same things you're trying to present to him, even if that witness happens to just be Scarlet herself. From what I know of Lucrecia's general idea of introducing his blood family to him, she'd first deal with his degradation, then let him know she found a genetic match for him and ask him if he'd like to know who his birth family was. She'd give him until their next meeting to decide, then tell him in the next meeting what had actually happened—by then, we should have the rest of the details. I would still say that's the safer bet, Kariya."

For a few long moments, the other man was silent, then he sighed. "I'm not going to promise I won't say anything at all until then if I happen to see an ideal moment, but I won't count places like Scarlet's office in that. It may be neutral territory, but you're right that someone would always be there as a witness, and those probably won't be allies."

"Fair enough," Vincent agreed with a small nod. "Have you even told your daughters they had—have—an older brother yet?"

With a faint blush, Kariya admitted, "No, not just yet."

"Then I suggest you do so—otherwise _they'll_ be blindsided, too, and it's _much_ safer for you to share information with them than it is for you to try it with the Commander," the older Turk replied in amusement. "Now, good night." He then turned and left, and a startled Tseng hurried to follow him.

Kariya was left standing in the middle of the living room feeling put out when Auryn said from his bedroom doorway, "They're right, you know. And frankly, if you really want to hint at it to Genesis without telling him directly, the best bet is for him to see a photo of Shelke. If you could make him finding one look accidental, no one could blame you."

"He's not a Turk, though, and would probably miss all those details," Kariya commented over his shoulder.

"He won't," the blond replied, his tone suddenly cold enough to make the older man face him in surprise. Sure enough, a cold, golden gaze was boring into him, and he suddenly felt like he'd be in a world of pain if the boy was inclined to cause it to him. "Do you _really think_ SOLDIERs are stupid just because their key trait is their strength? As someone told me once, they aren't muscle-bound morons, they're muscle-bound _tacticians_. And the Mages in SOLDIER are _especially_ intelligent and capable of the same kinds of leaps of logic as Turks. _Don't_ sell them short—and don't sell _your own son_ short—if you expect to be able to have any kind of relationship with him." When Auryn returned to his own apartment, Kariya felt like he'd just been released from a paralysis spell.

"Whoa...He's awfully protective of the Commander, isn't he?" the Turk commented softly to himself, then followed after Auryn, finding the blond wrapped in a blanket cocoon and shivering. Giving a small sigh, he told the lump, "I'm not going to hurt you over what you said, you know. As much as it pains me to admit it, you're right to say I shouldn't be selling him short, regardless of what his 'key strength' would be. I really should know better, especially with my background being what it is. What brought you back out there to have heard that, though?"

The lump shifted in a way he associated with something falling over, so he thought Auryn had been curled up on his knees, and had just fallen onto his side. "Never left..." the boy managed to say softly.

"...You stayed to listen, and none of us realized that?" Kariya blinked.

"Ask if Vincent knew," was the reply he got.

After a silence, he asked, "Do you need me to call the Doctor?"

"Don't want _another_ needle."

The reply caused him to huff a small laugh, then say, "All right, but I'll be checking up on you during the night to make sure you're doing okay." Probably by his response, he wasn't quite so bad-off, and Kariya was pretty sure it was because the one in his presence had never tortured him before. As such, he left Auryn's room so both of them could try to get some sleep.

FoWD

Morning came with both of them feeling a bit out of sorts, and for the first time, Kariya was glad to be able to turn Auryn over to someone else for a bit. He didn't care any less about him, but even the most dedicated 'parents' occasionally needed time away from their 'kids'. When Tseng arrived to teach Auryn the calming technique he felt would work best in the situation—meaning it was largely a form of controlled breathing—he headed out, first checking to see if he had work for the day, then heading off on his own. The morning Auryn had was tense, but not bad by any means, and he'd learned to tone down his reactions to the Wutain Turk. The same process was repeated the following three mornings.

After lunch on the designated day, Tseng took him down to the Slums on the train running between the Sector 1 station on the Upper Plate and the Sector 7 Slums, then led him through the Sectors 7 and 6 Slums to the Church in no-man's-land between the Sectors 6 and 5 Slums. The whole area was just so familiar, and Auryn was having flashbacks of some of the things which had happened there, whether he wanted to or not. Those ranged from the times Tseng had tortured him in that area to the time he'd already had a flashback to once, when Aeris had tried to kill Tseng.

The only thing he could say right then was that the breathing technique was getting a lot of use, and thankfully, it was working. If it was so bad just from him being in the area, what would meeting Aeris be like? He hadn't met her directly in the last three dimensions since the one where she had—been so different, so he hadn't actually been faced with it before. Well, he was about to find out, and had to wonder why he'd never actually realized this point until right then, right before he was about to meet her.

"Doing all right?" Tseng asked him quietly.

"Should I be, when this area has been a torture ground to me for a very long time?" Auryn asked bitterly.

Tseng sighed and asked rhetorically, "And I guess my presence is making it harder? At least you're still functional and coherent, which is a good thing. We're almost there. Did you want to pause for a few minutes to just focus on trying to calm down?"

Shaking his head, the blond replied, "That will just make things worse. What's easier to bear, tearing a bandage off slowly or tearing it off quickly?"

"Generally, quickly," the Wutain replied, tone thoughtful. "Very well." They proceeded to the Church doors, where Tseng opened them and led the way inside, Auryn following tentatively behind him.

Inside, as the two approached the flower patch, Aeris rose from the middle of it and stepped carefully to the solid floor nearest the doors, her gaze shocked as she met the blond's gaze. For his part, Auryn was struggling to keep his emotional reaction under control, but when she exclaimed, "Tseng, he's the fourth!" he was thrown into the memory of that day...

FoWD _(flashback)_ FoWD

_In that dimension, he had appeared in the Sector 7 Slums, so quickly made his way to the Sector 5 Slums Church. He met Aeris there, but had kept a very close eye out for Tseng, not wanting another round of torture. As a result, he'd spent several weeks getting to know her peacefully, without really realizing anything was wrong._

_Until the day he arrived at the Church to see her with her staff in her hands, attacking Tseng repeatedly with harsh, damaging blows, and it was only the Wutain's instinct keeping him alive. At first, he'd been surprised the clearly shocked and disoriented man hadn't drawn a weapon, but then he saw the Turk's gun on the floor by the altar. Rushing forward as she was about to bring the weapon down on Tseng's head in what would have been a killing blow, he was able to block and grab the staff so she couldn't pull it back._

"_Stop! He's already beaten!" he cried to her._

_At first, he thought she may have been attacked first, but then he got a good look at her eyes and realized they were full of intense hatred. That was only emphasized as she retorted, "Let me go, Ed! He's not beaten until he's dead!"_

_His brain stalled, but then he slowly gave his head a shake and asked, "What?"_

"_The Turks are evil, vile, sorry excuses for humans! They've ruined my life, controlled it, destroyed any chance for happiness I ever had, and I'm going to give it all back to them! He's the worst one, the one I can never get away from, so I'll get away from him by killing him! Let go!" she replied, voice lashing out with so much hatred he could feel it coming in waves through the Lifestream—and he heard Minerva cry out in pain and sorrow as well._

"_Did you hear that—the pain from 'her'?" he asked quietly, still trying to process what she had just said._

"_Of course. It's just the pain caused by the Reactors," she dismissed._

"_Aren't you supposed to be trying to ease her pain, not cause her more of it?"_

"_Why should I care? She left me to fend for myself in this Hades-forsaken hole!" Aeris snarled._

"_...But you grow the flowers..." he replied in a soft, winded tone._

"_I don't," she sneered. "I don't have any use for _pretty flowers_. They grow on their own, and I only come here so I can have time and space to myself. There's no reason for me to help anyone—not 'her' and not the Turks. I thought you were one of the few people I could actually _like_, but if you don't _let go_ of my staff so I can kill him, I'll just kill _you_, first!"_

_Giving his head a slow shake, he asked in a pained tone, "Can you really not see everything wrong with what you're doing and saying, Aeris?"_

"_There's nothing wrong with it!" she'd yelled in reply. "They all deserve death, that's why I keep killing them!" She managed to yank her staff free from his grip._

_As soon as she did, she was immediately attacking him. The sense of her intent to kill, even to kill him, was palpable, so he fought back, threw her down and back several times, and even broke her staff. Without her staff, she instead launched Materia attacks at him, and was becoming more and more angry every time an attack didn't work. Finally, she hit her Limit Break from sheer emotion, and he thought if she saw her healing ability, it would help open her eyes at last—_

_But her Limit Break wasn't a healing ability. Instead, it was a very painful vampiric attack which would remain in effect until either she died or he found some way to remove it. Esuna didn't work, and neither did a Remedy or an Elixir, so he had to resort to tapping into the raw energy of the Mako in the Reactor above them to grant a high-powered version of purification._

_The moment he tapped so closely into Minerva's essence was the same moment she channeled through him to purify Aeris with the same array Genesis had used on Nero in the first dimension._

_She exploded instantly into pyreflies, only the result had been something similar to when he and Genesis had reduced both the White and Black Materia to pyreflies, resulting in a veritable 'snow' covering the Sector 5 Slums. Plants began growing in abundance as White clattered to the wooden floor and Minerva informed him sadly that he would need to take and use White to create a world-wide judgment. If _Aeris_ had become so warped and twisted, the world was already lost._

_And use of White—_

FoWD _(flashback end)_ FoWD

He was quite literally knocked out of the flashback as something large and heavy hit his back and he hit the floor on his belly. The weight on him threw him halfway into a panic attack for an entirely different reason, but what kept it from becoming full-blown was how he could hear barking, and this somehow felt oddly familiar.

"Oh, no! Alexander!" a young girl's voice said, a voice which brought his mind to a screeching halt as he tried desperately to process it. A moment later, a girl appeared above him—only to gasp, "Ah! Little Big Brother!"

Right then, Auryn's mind grasped only one thing, and he twisted to throw Alexander off him as he reached out to pull the little girl into his arms and cry on her shoulder as he repeated over and over again, "Nina, you're alive, Nina, you're alive, Nina, you're alive..." Her arms wrapped around his neck as she settled in his lap, crying just as much as he was. Needless to say, it took them quite some time to calm down, even as Alexander parked himself at their sides, leaning his weight on them as his chin rested on the top of Auryn's head.

Finally, over half an hour later, both had stopped crying, and Auryn whispered to the little girl, "How are you here? Why are you here? How did you get separated from Alexander after what your father...?"

"A bad man kept making my heart hurt, but a nice lady kept holding me every time she found me, and she said she was going to find some way to stop him from hurting me. And she did! She told me I'm a 'Cetra' now, one of her chil-dren, and she made me and Alexander our bodies back! Oh, except Alexander has a mane now, and I have green eyes. But she made it so the bad man couldn't hurt me again. I'm really happy she did, 'cause now I have two mommies, and a daddy, and a big sister, and two big brothers, 'cause you're here now! And she still talks to me, too, but it hurts when I feel someone first go back to her...Then it feels better," Nina replied softly, though excitedly.

For his part, Auryn just listened to her talk, other than asking Minerva who the 'bad man' she meant was—and the reply was an image of Fuhito and the shadowy child's soul. Auryn felt distinctly ill with the realization that Nina had been there the whole time, and his arms tightened around the girl. Minerva had saved her, an act he had never been more grateful for.

Then Nina pushed back from him to look at his face, and he could see she did indeed have Lifestream-green eyes, just like Aeris. "Where's Big Big Brother?" she asked hopefully.

Pain crossed his face as he said to her shakily, "I'm so sorry...he's not with us here. He's not _here_..."

"...Already gone...?" Nina asked with tears in her eyes. He nodded slightly, and she burst into tears again as she reached forward to wrap her arms around his neck again. He also wept again, that time—for the first time he could recall—truly mourning the people he'd left behind on Amestris, who had been fated to never again be part of his life. And now, they would also never be part of Nina's either.

As they had both already wept for some time that day, the second round of tears only lasted about half the time of the first, and when silence finally fell, Tseng softly asked, "Are you calm now? Well, as calm as you'll ever be?"

"For the moment, yes," Auryn said softly, just feeling exhausted. And yet, holding Nina, seeing her again, was somehow cathartic, and he suddenly didn't regret coming to the Church anymore. Even Alexander's weight against his side was somehow cathartic.

"In that case, why did you never mention your—sister, I suppose—to us?" the Wutain asked quietly. "We could have already been looking for her if we'd known."

"I thought she was dead," the blond answered, tightening his grip on her for a moment.

"To be fair, if the image Minerva sent you is true, she _was_ dead," Aeris replied softly.

"What?" Tseng asked in shock.

"I saw a Wutain man with a cold gaze apparently using her soul to harm him—you call him Auryn? Her soul had been blackened from suffering, but still held some awareness and didn't want to be used to hurt people. Minerva took her soul and her pet's soul and reworked physical bodies for them so they could live without fear of that man again," Aeris explained to the black haired man. "She hadn't told us that part before, probably because we wouldn't have been able to grasp it without Auryn to help give it real meaning. Who was that Wutain man?"

With a faint sigh, Auryn replied, "His name is Fuhito."

The aura in the room changed as Tseng asked slowly, "Are you telling me the same man who helped to torture you also tortured Nina—_after she'd already died_?"

"Pretty much," the blond answered, then slowly lifted his gaze to see Tseng looking towards the doors of the Church, his expression deadly. Both he and Aeris were leaning against the sides of the two pews opposite where Auryn, Nina, and Alexander sat, each against the side of a different pew. When he met Aeris' eyes, he saw them clear and open, no trace of malice or hatred in the presence of a Turk.

"I'm telling the Director that we _are_ going to eliminate him as soon as we have his location," the Wutain replied. His gaze moved to Auryn's to meet his eyes. "You know how protective I am of the people I care about, and Nina—I'm sorely tempted to break my own moral code so I can make him suffer for what he did to her. Unfortunately, the man is a slippery bastard who is abhorrently hard to track, so taking such a route would just give him a chance to escape, and I like _that_ option even less. He'll die quickly, but he'll be unable to harm anyone else."

When the blond gave a small nod, Aeris rested a hand on Tseng's arm and said, "He's the fourth Cetra I told you about before. There's no question—he's practically my brother, just like Nina was my sister as soon as I met her. I know why you said he'd be so protective of me, though—Mother Ifalna, Nina, and I are all Cetra who fit the genetic structure of Healers, but he's a Sentinel by nature, so it's his instinct to protect us. It's why he's also so protective of Nina, and so close to her. But he's different from that, too, and has abilities like a Healer's and like a Terraformer's as well—all three in one person has never happened before."

"Terraformers?" Tseng asked in surprise. "You've mentioned Healers and Sentinels before, but what are Terraformers?"

"The rarest kind of Cetra, who are literally able to shape and change the structure of the Planet," the older Cetra informed him, making him gape at her. "Sentinels do a bit of that in local areas—that's what Mages are—but Terraformers can do it in wide areas. There was never more than two of them at a time when there were lots of Cetra, but their main function was to fix areas hit by severe natural disasters or to find ways to relieve the Planet of pressure on it before it reached disaster level."

"I see," the Wutain replied, sounding winded. His gaze moved back to Auryn as he said, "We'll stay here for a bit so you can rest and calm down, then head to Aeris' home for our meal—it'll be closer than the Shinra building."

Auryn just gave him a small nod before curling around Nina's small body again. He'd never thought it would be possible, but it seemed he'd just come down with a case of separation anxiety. Any thought of letting her go—just wasn't something his mind could process right then.


	18. 17-Shocks

Shocks

After several minutes of sitting where he was with Nina in his lap and Alexander to one side of them, he felt Aeris sit down to his other side and lean against him, her hand absently playing with one of Nina's braids. She was quiet for a minute before asking, "What made you fear me?"

Shaking his head, Auryn replied, "You shouldn't have to be burdened with what happened that time..."

A sigh sounded before Tseng said, "Don't be a hypocrite. If it's fine for you to tell _us_, you'd best be prepared to tell _her_, too. She needs to know what it is she needs to undo so you stop fearing her—just like _we_ do."

"He's right, you know," Aeris said gently. "It obviously hurt you a lot, and without knowing what it was, I can't do anything to help show you otherwise."

With a shuddering breath, the blond said, "It was only the once, and it was the absolute worst case scenario. By the time I realized what was wrong, Minerva had already decided to use me as a channel to revert you directly to Lifestream energy. She then told me to take White and use it to call judgment, since if even _you_ had truly become so twisted you were beyond redemption, the world was already beyond hope."

"What did I _do_?" Aeris asked in a stunned tone. A quick glance showed both her and Tseng staring with wide eyes.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Auryn released a deep, tired sigh and replied, "Apparently, you had become a proficient Turk killer. I stopped you from killing Tseng that time, and we found out soon after that you'd killed upwards to almost five hundred people, some of those as far back as when you were nine. By the time I found out, you were only sixteen, barely."

Silence fell for a few long minutes before the young woman finally asked slowly, "Did you...activate White by yourself?" When he gave a small nod, she said, "The only way a single person could have generated enough energy to activate it would have been by dying and pushing all their energy into activating it fully." He nodded again. "Who killed you?" she asked bluntly, gaze full of worry.

With a small snort, the blond replied, "The only other person there: Tseng. And then he suicided before being counted in the judgment. Our deaths were in such quick succession that I had barely enough time to register his before being sent to the next one..."

"Did I also torture you in that scenario?" Tseng asked in a tight tone.

"No. You were too broken, and only held on to life long enough to get me where I wanted to go, but you weren't anything like friendly, either...more like a mindless robot," Auryn said in a soft tone.

"That's not like Big Brother Tiger!" Nina gasped, wiggling until his grip loosened enough for her to draw back enough to meet her gaze. "He's strong! He can do anything!"

With a sigh, Tseng answered, "No, Nina, I can't. There's no such thing as someone who can do anything at all. Some can do more than others, but they still have limits."

She turned to look at him in confusion, and Auryn gave a faint smile. "Even with all my enhanced abilities, I still can't do everything, and I have more of them than Tseng. We're still all human, Nina, and humans weren't _made_ to do everything themselves."

Nina's head swiveled back to him, green eyes curious then. "Why did you say Big Brother Tiger hurt you lots?" she asked. "'Cause he's nice and won't hurt anyone."

Auryn blinked as both Tseng and Aeris sighed. "Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to ever be able to remember that my job means hurting people for a living," the Wutain commented dryly.

"Yeah, she's like that with people she trusts and cares about. Right, Nina? You though me and Al and your dad could all do no wrong, didn't you?" the blond asked her in obviously sad amusement.

Nina blinked in surprise, then looked down sadly. "You and Big Big Brother didn't do wrong. But Daddy..."

"Even _we_ did wrong. It just wasn't to _you_," he nearly whispered, gently petting the back and side of her head with one hand.

A silence followed the words before Aeris asked, "Why are you here, anyway, Nina? I thought Mom was supposed to be watching over you while I was out today?"

"But Big Flower Sister and Big Brother Tiger were both going to be here with all the pretty flowers, and we come here all the time. Why would I stay home? I feel good today, and I wanted to be with Big Flower Sister and Big Brother Tiger," Nina pouted.

The image the words conjured in Auryn's mind made him chuckle faintly as he said quietly, "Just like a little duckling. And Alexander is just like a little—er, well, a big—duckling to her, so..."

Suddenly, both Tseng and Aeris were chuckling, too. "Ducklings," Aeris giggled. "How apt. She is, too—just like a little duckling following its mom around everywhere. She does it to Mother Ifalna, too. Don't you, my little Budling?" The little girl giggled at the address, then leaned forward to hug Auryn.

"Ah! I remember now!" Nina suddenly exclaimed, sitting back once more with realization in her eyes. "Big Big Brother was Alphonse Elric, and Little Big Brother is Edward Elric! I remembered because I kept thinking of a circle, and Big Brothers drew lots of circles to make me flowers and things, even when it was all snowy outside and nothing would grow!"

Shock followed the words until Tseng got his bearings back and cocked a brow. "Is she right and your name is Edward Elric?"

Auryn flinched. It was answer enough, and Nina immediately asked, "What's wrong, Little Big Brother?"

"Why wouldn't you give us your real name?" the older, Wutain man asked in a quiet tone.

"Do you have _any idea_ how many times I was tortured while using that name?" Auryn asked with a sudden surge of both anger and pain. "Do you have any idea how many times they used _my own name_ to taunt and torment me, to cause me _even more_ pain than they _already were_? And after the incident with Aeris, I spent a good twenty years not even sane enough to realize I had gotten myself to the only place on the Planet pretty much no one else would ever be able to reach, not using a name at all and fearing what would happen if I gave it to anyone else!"

"Um?" Aeris began in complete confusion as Tseng slowly blinked.

The Wutain then asked in surprise, "Are you effectively saying you managed to isolate yourself completely for two decades, and that only reinforced your fear of your own name?"

"...Yes," the younger blond agreed in a quiet, tired tone.

"I'm somewhat surprised your captors allowed you to do something like that," Tseng sighed faintly.

"It had its own down-side, though," Auryn answered, flinching and pulling Nina tightly against him again as he tried to ground himself.

"In that no one could drag you out of your insanity?" the Turk guessed.

Giving his head a shake, the blond answered, "No. After the first several years, some of my sanity had begun to return, but while I was isolated, some things I could still see happen, or I was getting some of the data from Minerva or the Lifestream in general. A world-destroying magic called Meteor came down, and was deflected. Omega formed, then was destroyed, but the world didn't end. The purpose of the scenarios had been for me to try to prevent the world's destruction, but seeing the world go through that and survive without me—it was like saying there was no reason for me to exist, to even _try_ to survive. Without Minerva's interference, I'd probably have starved myself to death. Until the day that world crumbled around me, I lived for a decade thinking there was no use or purpose for me, that I was hurting the world more than helping it by intervening."

"Oh Shiva!" Aeris breathed, twisting so she could wrap her arms around him and Nina. "Never think that, ever! Don't..." she drifted off, right into tears. "You'll never hurt the Planet more by trying to help save it!" she wept onto his shoulder. Alexander added a whine to the older Cetra's tears, and the combination triggered more tears from Nina and Auryn.

Tseng held a hand to his face in both pain and exasperation, then moved to the front of the Church to sit and wait for them all to calm down again. The wait for them to go quiet was about twenty minutes, but Tseng didn't approach them again until about ten minutes later, asking, "Do you think you're all up to the trek to Aeris' home?"

"I'd rather just sleep..." the blond murmured tiredly.

"Sleeping here isn't a good idea," Aeris replied with a dainty yawn.

There was no reply from Nina, and a check showed she had fallen asleep, still clinging to Auryn.

With a little chuckle, Aeris released the blond and rose, saying, "We had better take her home so she can sleep in her own bed, not in a dangerous place like this. Also, Mom will be worried about her after finding her missing."

As much as he could have just stayed right where he was, the young man realized he didn't really want Nina in a place where she would be in danger, even knowing he, Tseng, and even Aeris, would have been able to protect the little girl. He managed to get his feet under him and rise, using one arm to hold Nina to him as he used the other on the nearest pew to lever himself up. Alexander also rose and padded closely beside the two as Aeris and Tseng led the way out, then fell in beside him to the side the Bandersnatch hadn't taken. Somehow, Alexander being a friendly Bandersnatch didn't surprise him at all, and he didn't think anything of the monster padding along with them. Then again, he'd had plenty of exposure to Dark Nation.

"So, do we keep calling you Auryn or switch to your real name?" Tseng asked as they walked. Aeris was between him and Auryn.

Shuddering, the blond replied softly, "I'm not ready yet..."

The words caused Tseng's brow to rise, then he smiled faintly. "I see."

They were silent for the rest of the walk, and Elmyra threw the door open as they walked up to the house, gaze frantic as she examined Nina to see if she was hurt, fussing like a mother hen. Two other people stepped outside as well, and Auryn blinked at them in surprise, having only ever seen photos or video recordings of them before, never living people. It stunned him to realize these two, who had always been dead before, were now alive and healthy, actively part of the world.

The two people he was looking at were Professor Gast Faremis and Ifalna, Aeris' birth parents.

Gast was a graying man with glasses, trim and in reasonable shape, and dressed in neat pants with a long-sleeved shirt, both in dark colors. Ifalna was still brown haired with looks very much like her daughter's, though her hair color was paler, more like Nina's. She wore a dusty rose dress with a purple shawl which had been tied around her waist the way many people did jackets they didn't need to wear at the time. The difference in their appearances was likely due to Gast being over a decade older than Ifalna. It was obvious Tseng and Aeris were both familiar with them, and they with the Turk as much as with Aeris. It didn't escape his attention either how Tseng was treated like part of the family, like their son.

How had _this_ happened? If Aeris' parents were still alive, why did she apparently live with Elmyra and address her adoptive mother more familiarly than her birth mother?

At the moment, he had no answers, and he still feared asking for more information, expecting attack rather than answers.

And he had no further time to ponder it, because Ifalna joined him then, wrapping her arms around both Nina and him in a motherly hug. It had been so, so long since he'd met a woman who would make him think of his own mother—even Teacher had never made him think of Trisha Elric, no matter how much like a mother she had been to him and Al. For it to happen with Ifalna, it literally caused his mind to go still and silent as he held Nina between them and leaned his head on Ifalna's shoulder.

A moment of absolute peace.

The last time he'd felt such a thing had been before his mother had fallen ill.

"There is so much wrong with your energy flows it's not a wonder you have so much trouble with things," she said quietly with a small sigh. "While I have some of the standard healing abilities of a Healer, I'm one of the unique ones who works directly with energy flows and emotional issues rather than with physical ones. While you're visiting us, would you like me to fix, or at least ease, the damage to your energies?"

"Why would anyone stop half-way?" Auryn asked sleepily.

"Mmm, some of them can't be completely fixed immediately. About two thirds of the issues a quick scan of your energies showed me can be fixed entirely, but depending on the cause of them, they may reassert themselves later. The other third are tied into genetic damage, and all I can do is smooth or re-direct them, not fix them entirely, not until the genetic damage causing them is fixed," Ifalna explained.

For a minute, the blond had to think about that. Energy flows were major difficulties in alchemic arrays—that was how rebounds often happened. If every person's body had an array (or many multitudes of them) anchoring the soul to the body, then it was actually feasible to say damage to those energy-made arrays would affect him somehow. After his time and ability to study things and how they fit together, he'd found it was true of all living things that they had arrays anchoring them, holding them together. In that regard, it was entirely possible the damage he'd suffered had caused what was effectively a repeated rebound.

"How does the damage affect me?"

"It's helping to cause emotional instability, though part of that is clearly genetic. It's also influencing several aspects of your body's functionality—skin sensitivity, for example. Normally, nerves become hyper-sensitized because of physical damage, but the other way it happens is because energy has been forced to flow either through the nervous system to the extremities or to hover on the surface of the skin, and therefore, on the nerve endings. You have the latter issue. It's effectively like being in a permanent state of static charge. That's only one example of energy-caused strains on your body. The mental strain of past hurts has also warped some of your energy pathways, and fixing those should...well, ease the suffering attached to your memories, I suppose is the best way to say it."

Some of his memories had _a lot_ of suffering attached to them.

He didn't even have to hesitate to think about that—he nodded against her shoulder. While he hadn't vocalized anything, she knew what the nod meant, and led him inside the house, to a room upstairs, Nina still clinging to him in sleep. Soon after, he was laying down, drifting in and out of sleep as gentle, Lifestream-like energies flowed through him over and over, back and forth, touching something new every time. It was almost like feeling fabric being woven together inside his body, like it had been a mass of broken and loose ends which someone had found and decided to straighten as best as it could be.

By the time the energies stopped flowing, he felt much lighter, and only returned to awareness when he felt Nina sitting on his hips, poking his chest in a way clearly meant to get his attention. When his eyes opened and met hers, she grinned and said, "It's time for supper, Little Big Brother!" Beside the bed, Alexander pushed himself to his feet and gave a happy yip.

Blinking, Auryn began assessing his state, his memories, how he felt over-all. The difference he found was huge. Most of his memories felt much more distant, and less painful by extension—but they were no less vivid in details, so he could still clearly recall his brother's, Winry's, and Teacher's faces just as much as more recent memory details. Most of the manic—and panic—states he'd been experiencing had calmed, though he could still feel it there. It had less power and force now, though. Most of his body just felt relaxed, like it would after he'd been exercising hard, then stopped to rest.

One memory remained nearly as fresh and raw as it had been—the memory of Fuhito using Nina's soul to harm him, and him sending that soul back to Minerva—but even it wasn't quite as intense.

It didn't change how difficult it would be for him to let Nina go that day. She didn't seem to mind, either.

Finally, he got up, still carrying Nina, and softly stepped down the stairs to join the others, mainly observing them quietly as he did. Elmyra was cooking at the stove, Ifalna was arranging things to be taken to the table, and Gast, Aeris, and Tseng were sitting at the table. They were talking about some of the work Lady Shinra wanted done, some of the things news to him and others ones he knew. One thing they mentioned which was decidedly curious was how often Sephiroth managed to 'be away' any time the President arranged a publicity event, and by extension, how often Genesis ended up playing the role of the 'Shinra poster boy.' That in turn translated to the President assigning Genesis to escorts for himself and Rufus every so often.

Apparently, Gast and Ifalna were something like independent contractors Lady Shinra had hired to try to fix some of the damage Hojo and the Science Department managed to do to people. As a result, Tseng had told them the little bit he knew of the situation with Auryn, and Gast had called Lady Shinra to find out more details. Just the fact that Lady Shinra had shared so freely with him told the blond a lot about how much she trusted him, and Ifalna and the others at the Gainsborough home by extension. At that point, Gast was musing over the genetic imbalance which was Auryn's greatest current difficulty—the cat/bird/human/male/female issue.

"Can that even _be_ fixed?" Auryn asked quietly from the foot of the stairs.

Gast looked up at him and gave a nod. "Brought to balance, certainly," he said to the blond. "Come sit down." As Auryn did, Gast went on, "Lucrecia would have told you the genetics couldn't just be removed, but that doesn't make them impossible to work with. You can't be returned to exactly what you were, but teaching the various elements to work together properly is possible. Did you know there is a small number of the population born with varying degrees of mixed male and female genetics?" The younger's eyes widened in surprise, and Gast nodded.

"Our bodies are actually capable of assimilating and balancing the genders in varying forms. In some cases, that would mean some parts of both gender aspects are visible on the body, but only one would be functional. That's about one in a million, but it's there. Much more rare is someone whose functions both work equally well, perhaps one in a billion, so it only happens once every few generations (1). On the other hand, about ten percent of the population has minor quantities of the opposite gender aspect, though they aren't visible unless someone goes looking for them, which is a decent number. Most of those range between five and thirty-five percent of the opposite gender aspect," the scientist explained.

"...So you're saying there are existing precedents?" the blond asked slowly.

"There are," Gast agreed. "And because there are, and those people don't have the kinds of issues you've been having, delving into study of their genetics would help tell us how to bring yours to a balance so you can work with them. It may require a similar genetic therapy to what Lucrecia will need to do to align the avian and mammalian genetics, or there may be an alternate, genetic stimulation-based method which would work. At least, by the fact that a cat and a human are both mammals, they should be much more closely aligned of their own accord—that's likely why you show active physical traits normally displayed by cats, not humans. Though, even then, there are an odd few exceptions, where people display those traits for no known reason."

"I do?" Auryn blinked in surprise, and Nina giggled from his lap as Tseng and Aeris chuckled.

"All right, everyone, the meal's ready!" Elmyra said happily as she and Ifalna managed to get everything to the table in one trip. "Eat first, talk more later," she added, making sure everyone had food before she and Ifalna sat.

No one tried to make him set Nina down, for which he was thankful. Instead, Elmyra had just put two plates on the table in front of him and the little girl, and had put a bowl of scraps on the floor by his chair for Alexander. Nina quite happily ate from her higher-than-normal perch, and Auryn was careful not to drip or drop any of his on her. It was a mostly quiet meal, though there was also some banter during it. The dynamic at the table was, frankly, shocking.

**Notes:**

(1) Taking into account the fact that Gaia is much smaller than Earth and doesn't have the capacity to hold even 1 billion people (unlike Earth, which is maintaining approximately 8 billion), that would mean something which happens at a rate of 'about 1 in a billion' would only happen once in however many generations it would take to reach about 1 billion. As I'm sure it would be no less than 4 generations (or a quarter of a billion per generation), that's where the 'every few generations' comes from. By Japan's population, though, it still may be closer to 6-8 generations. Rather than the 8—or so—we'd have on Earth in EVERY generation, which would translate to approximately 24 alive at any one time.


	19. 18-Significant Differences

Significant Differences

When they were done eating and Nina had turned sideways in his lap to rest her feet on Alexander's back, the discussion turned to more serious things by Tseng saying, "Everyone here is aware of the scenarios you've been running. I know by your expression when you saw Gast and Ifalna that something was very different this time, so I think we'd like to know what."

"Uh..." Auryn blinked and froze at being put on the spot like that.

"Like with me, something changed," Nina threw in helpfully.

Releasing a gust of air, the blond looked down and tightened his grip on the girl as he said, "In every previous one, they were both dead."

Silence fell for a few moments before Ifalna said, "I think you'll have to tell us a little more than that. How would we have died?"

"...It was sort of like a chain effect," Auryn sighed. "What I knew of it was that Vincent confronted Hojo and was killed—and later turned into an animated, sentient corpse. Hojo got to keep Sephiroth, Lucrecia isolated herself in a giant Mako crystal, and you left Shinra, Professor Gast. Apparently, Hojo kept looking for you, and found you with Ifalna and baby Aeris at Icicle Inn, and when you refused to hand Aeris over to him, he killed you and took both Ifalna and Aeris back to his labs. About seven years later, Ifalna, you tried to escape with Aeris, but basically sacrificed your life to get her out of there by using a string of Limit Breaks so close together that your body couldn't handle it. Though, Aeris still ended up with Elmyra."

The others all stared at him in shock for a moment, then traded looks. Finally, Gast told Auryn, "For what it's worth, that's probably what would have happened if things hadn't gone the way they had. The major point of difference is that Lucrecia, Vincent, and Sephiroth retreated to Cosmo Canyon, and Lucrecia and Sephiroth lived there for about five years. We were still in Cosmo Canyon when they arrived, so Ifalna and I stayed. About eight months after Aeris was born, Hojo pulled out some of his monsters to attack Cosmo Canyon so he'd be able to grab Sephiroth in the chaos, but Sephiroth had gone with two of the town residents to explore and wasn't there.

Ifalna picked up the story with, "During the attack, I had grabbed Aeris and run up to one of the higher levels to escape from the monsters with her, but it just so happened that Hojo had been making his way along the one I chose. After a moment, he jumped at me to try to grab me. I tried to back away, but he's shockingly strong and fast when he wants to be, so he managed to snatch Aeris from my grip as he pushed me off the edge of the walkway. The lower level wasn't far below so I wasn't hurt beyond a few bruises, but it gave him the time he needed to escape, taking Aeris with him."

"Lucrecia returned to Midgar with Sephiroth to do what she could to watch over Aeris for us, but Hojo was—fanatically possessive of her," Gast added softly with a sigh.

"Fanatically to the point that she _always_ had to be in the view of one of his trusted assistants or under his personal observation," Tseng added. "I was only allowed in the labs on sufferance, and they found she was more cooperative if she had a playmate, so they let the two of us bond. I'd have told her about her parents if I'd known. In the meantime, Ifalna got tired of waiting for some 'opportune moment' to retrieve her daughter, and when Aeris was seven, she broke into the lab to get her out of it. They apparently made it to the Slums, and I started trying to find her the next day. Aeris, fill in the rest, please?"

With a nod, Aeris explained, "Mother Ifalna was a stranger to me, and was taking me to scary places I didn't know, so to me, it was a kidnapping, Minerva's assurance aside. I looked for a good time to get away, and while we were in Sector Seven by a bar there, a sudden rush of people being chased out of it meant I could slip free from her hold and run. I ran into Mom, who immediately offered me food and a place to sleep while she looked for my 'lost family'. She didn't pressure me to go with her, she soothed my fear and asked me if I would let her do that. And the home she took me to was a lot nicer, even in the Slums, than the labs or the places I'd seen to that point with Mother Ifalna.

"Mom _did_ look for my family, but after a couple of days, I had to tell her someone had snatched me from the Shinra labs, so she swore she'd do everything she could to keep me safe. I sort of ended up having to tell her because all her flower pots, all the seeds which had never grown, suddenly all grew almost overnight when she brought me home. When Tseng found me a couple months later, the Guards also found out, and Vincent came to talk with us. I was allowed to stay, but he _did_ say he wanted me to at least take the time to slowly get to know my birth parents, so I did. That's how we ended up with this strange family."

"It helped that I met Tseng before he became a Turk, though, or I'd have disliked him a great deal the first time he turned up wearing that uniform," Elmyra threw in dryly.

The others looked amused as Auryn stared at them in shock. What they'd just told him was—mind-boggling. Vincent's actions with Hojo, Lucrecia, and Sephiroth had created such a different situation? Though, it admittedly still had similar elements, many aspects had changed greatly, and many more people were now alive than in any previous dimension.

Maybe this Gaia had a real chance? One of the problems in previous dimensions had always been too few people in play in positions which could make a real difference to the situation. Now, there were apparently twice the number of Turks, most of those highly skilled, Ifalna, Gast, Lucrecia—and there were all those in better states of mind.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tseng asking, "About your attachment to Nina...?"

A sudden fear of being told to put her down and leave her with Aeris made him panic as his grip tightened on her. A little yip from the girl was the only reason he loosened his grip slightly, but he was actually bordering on a panic attack right then. Gently, energy flowed through him, and all the fear, panic, and tension began bleeding away from him. He became aware of a hand on his back—Ifalna's—and slowly looked up to see the others looking worried or resigned.

"It seems you were right, Ifalna," Tseng sighed quietly, pulling out his PHS as he rose. "I'll let Vincent know." He then stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

Auryn's confusion at the action must have shown, because Aeris said, "Mother Ifalna knew from your energies that you and Nina aren't mentally, physically, or—er—energetically ready to be parted yet. She's not sure when you'll start detaching from one another, but you'll have to stay here overnight at the very least. We're not going to try to separate you by force, but we'll work with you to gradually start detaching the bonds so they aren't holding both of you so strongly."

There was a long pause as Aeris pondered something, then she said, "If what Tseng said is true, Auryn, that means Nina lived through those scenarios _with_ you. And the way Minerva presents your past to us—all of those scenarios—is like realities, not just a fiction she was trying her best to help you through. I don't know how long it will take the Turks to figure out that you've been jumping from actual reality to actual reality, but I think you would be better off telling them yourself. They can do more to help you if they know what they're really protecting you from than if you say nothing and just let them try to figure it out after they've messed something up because they _didn't_ know the key elements at play."

Auryn stiffened as soon as she started talking, then leaned his head on Nina's shoulder. "I can't. Even what I've been telling them has been _so hard_ after all the times they've—tortured me over all those same things...And if I tell them, then there's actually nothing for them to protect me _from_, either...since then there are no 'captors' who will one day try to retrieve me or anything like that..."

Silence fell for a minute, then Gast said quietly, "I think you've misunderstood what 'protection' encompasses, Auryn. It isn't just to be protected from physical harm, but from other kinds as well. The dangers you've been through aren't without merit—there's evidence of Fuhito, and even of Deepground. Those things aren't lies, they're warnings, and even self-checks so we don't go the route you've previously seen from us. Your knowledge is still valid and valuable, and if they realize the nature of the variables in play, Vincent and Lady Shinra would have a better idea of how to account for them. That's why Aeris—and we—feel you should be telling them the whole truth."

"...If I refuse? Will you just go ahead and tell them anyway?" Auryn asked bitterly, not lifting his head from Nina's shoulder.

All three adults sighed as Aeris rose and stepped outside. It was Elmyra who said, "As much as it would clear some things up, it won't help you trust the people in front of you now. It's honestly not our place to tell, it's yours to tell when you feel able to do so. We'll only say something to Tseng or Vincent if lives literally depend on it, all right?"

As much as the words were meant to be kind, and were reassuring on some level, mostly they just made him feel inadequate. There were so many things he had lost after so long, and he felt like a part of his own basic personality was missing—the spunk and strength he'd always relied on to see him through. He was scared of his own fucking _shadow_, of telling anyone something they didn't absolutely need to know, and he was starting to actually see how much he had changed, been cowed and...

He had broken.

Now, he was making these people put him back together again...over a lie.

How long could he maintain that? Not even because it was a lie which could be found out, but because it just grated against him to use these people this way.

FoWD

When Tseng had stepped outside, he'd already hit the dial button for Vincent's number, and the man answered after one ring, his voice soft, "What's the matter? Do I need to send Lucrecia after all?"

"No...We just won't be returning on schedule," Tseng sighed, reaching up to rub his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"...I beg your pardon?" the older man asked, clearly puzzled.

"I mentioned the younger girl to you, right?" the Wutain Turk asked in reply.

"Your friend teasingly calls her 'Budling', yes?"

"Yes, well, apparently one of the 'brothers' she was looking for was Auryn. And they're sort of—tied together at the moment, not physically, but mentally, emotionally, and as Ifalna said, 'energetically'. Neither of them is actually able or willing to be parted at the moment. His captors made him think she was dead, then repeatedly used 'her soul' to torture him, though he apparently didn't know _that_ detail until just now. While it looks a lot like an extreme case of separation anxiety, Ifalna was very clear about that barely skimming the surface. He almost had a panic attack just because I asked him about his attachment to our new Budling. So yes...we won't be back tonight. For sure."

There was a pause, then Vincent commented, "I don't even know what I should be asking first at this point."

"Um...Could I suggest you first figure out how to explain my extended absence? But I _do_ have an actual name for him now, and his word by his phrasing that he's actually wanting and hoping to heal, is working towards it, but he's just not ready yet. I don't think anything else is especially relevant," Tseng replied in a dry tone.

"As good as that news is, and yes—I actually already took care of your absence—there's the question of whether or not we can find the Budling's other brother."

"That's a no. They aren't blood-related—Auryn and our Budling—and all our ladies agree that there isn't another brother to find, he's already passed on. Apparently, Auryn is 'like' the ladies, too."

"...His genetics didn't show that way."

"Because the genetic structure for what he is happens to be different from the general genetic structure our doctors and scientists know of them. Basically, that they think they know more than they actually do."

Behind him, the door opened and Aeris stepped out, so he turned to look at her as she closed the door and Vincent replied, "Point taken. Fine, then what you need is your reason away, and I need his actual name, even if there's a good chance he's right and we'll find nothing. Your reason is a stake-out in the Slums, results pending and uncertain timeframe. It's high security, so even Verdot can't just demand answers and get them, if he asks, and you would be reporting on the results directly to me, anyway."

"That should work well, then," the Wutain agreed. "His name is Edward Elric. Like you said, though...You probably won't find anything."

A hum of agreement followed, then the Director of the Turks said, "Report in each morning and evening to let me know the likelihood of your return, but otherwise, any other notes or comments—other than an emergency—can wait until you get back. Good luck."

"Later, then," Tseng agreed, then hung up. His gaze met Aeris' again as he pocketed his PHS and asked, "Why are you out here?"

"I don't think I've ever met anyone so badly damaged and still sane. Can he really not see his own strength?" she asked, shaking her head.

Obviously, further discussion hadn't gone well, so he asked, "And what did you think of _me_ when we first met? What did I clearly think of _myself_, after what happened to my birth family and to me?"

She eyed him for a long moment before lifting her shoulders in a shrug and saying, "I didn't think you were sane. At the time, you actually probably weren't." She paused again before frowning in puzzlement and saying slowly, "You...thought you were weak. Even though you were still alive after all that, you thought you were weak and were borderline suicidal..." A quiet pause followed as he met her gaze evenly, then she blinked and said, "He thinks the same thing because that's what happens initially when someone violates a person, in whatever way it happens to be."

"Whether we want to, or even have any reason to, we always end up going, 'but what if,' or 'if I had only...' It's not the way any victim by force or duress should think, but it's the common reaction. That's why so many use force and fear to control others, even if it's a temporary control at best. The fact is, it's fast and easy, and there are a lot of people who aren't strong enough to get past it. For the amount of suffering Auryn has been through...He's in pretty damned good shape, just by the fact that he hasn't given up yet. But, he doesn't _feel_ strong right now, he can't see it, because he's still too busy blaming himself for the actions of others, as though he could have done something to change what happened."

"Ts—...Ren, I think you need to look more...critically at what he's saying. I mean...to him, everything he went through is a reality. What if the logic you need to apply to it is more along the lines of an actual reality, rather than a 'scenario' which never actually happened?" Aeris asked tentatively as she stepped onto one of the lower stairs and sat on the top one in front of the door.

After a pause, the Wutain sighed faintly and said, "Aeris, if you think we haven't been, you missed something. I guess for me, it had been an abstract until you told me about Fuhito and Nina—and she obviously remembers what Fuhito did to her, too. Then, I realized I _really was_ capable of being the kind of person he's come to fear, and that made me realize Vincent was right—a scenario or a reality makes no difference, and we _need_ to react to _realities_, not something we _think_ is a fiction." He fell silent as he moved to sit beside her, then put an arm around her shoulders. "There's even a chance there aren't actually any 'captors', because he may have a form of Leviathan's Blessing, and has been set into a cycle because he hasn't yet successfully saved the Planet. We _know_ that."

"Then why haven't you said so to him?" she blinked.

"Because we didn't know the reason until today, just that it was possible, and because he obviously reacts _very_ poorly to us knowing the truth. Or as close to it as we _can_ know," the older man answered dryly. "Just us finding out about his blood being—not blood anymore—sent him into one of his worst panic attacks to date. Telling him we know more than we're letting on will just produce more of them. In the meantime, apparently we're finding out that many of the things he's managed to mention to us are, in fact, realities we have to deal with. For now, getting him to recover and tracking—and dealing with—as much as we can is the best option."

"...If he meets Fuhito anywhere, he'll kill him, so you'd better get to Fuhito first."

"We're planning to—we're already looking into his location."

"Good."

As they sat there silently for a few minutes, just enjoying one another's company, a sound from the path leading towards the Sector 5 Slum town made them both look up and peer apprehensively into the darkness. While Aeris could see nothing—though she sensed a presence—Tseng was able to see more than one form moving.

"Go inside, Aeris. Now," he told her, rising, his whole body tense.

"How many?" she asked worriedly. Both knew he wouldn't have said anything if it had only been one or two.

"Over five," he replied.

Her eyes widened and she ran inside. As the door closed, a man's voice called out derisively, "So the 'Big, Bad Turk' is protective of the pretty little girl. How—_cute_." The scorn in the last word was obvious. "You would have been better off just handing her over to us, because you're outnumbered, Turk."

A new voice called from behind and above them, "I'm not so sure of that, when there's actually more than one Turk here." It was female, strong, and cheerfully amused. And Tseng recognized it.

"Percia, you'd be better off staying out of this," he called to the new Trainee Turk.

"Not a chance," she replied from her position, wherever it was—even _he_ couldn't pinpoint her then. "I've spent the last _three years_ training to be a Turk, and even got _Sephiroth_ to help me improve my sword skills, so don't think my combat skills are lacking!" A moment later, one of the Plate underside spotlights shone down on the area, illuminating the whole area brightly right to the edge of town.

Tseng could see a group of what were probably bandits who had come into town looking for 'prey' since SOLDIERs and the Turks had been making bandits' lives a lot harder lately. They were a rag-tag group, but they held themselves and their weapons like people familiar with their use—like experts. Of the twenty or so there, the one who seemed to be the leader was a large, fit man with brown hair, dark eyes, and wearing a gray tank top with camo pants and a camo bandana over his head. He also seemed to be a martial artist. But with the number of them and their average skills, by himself, he wouldn't be able to take them all on, so he guessed it was fine if Percia wanted to show off. At least, that was the only reason he could think of for why she'd help him.

"You think you can fight us, bitch?" the leader of the group snarled as he looked up towards the spotlight.

A moment later, the bandit leader lifted his hands to block her katana-like sword on his metal fist weapon blades, and the impact knocked the black-suited woman several feet back, even as he was forced to his knees with a curse. The woman had brown hair cut in a flyaway style a few inches long and with bangs, whose brown eyes were sharp and alert. She was eighteen, and Tseng knew Vincent had allowed her into the Turks directly from the Cadet entrance test after seeing her skills, not because she'd been in any of the Shinra Academy combat programs—she hadn't. He'd also let her in, even knowing she'd go with the Hounds. It had been obvious, since Verdot was her father.

Percia had landed on her feet and was already launching herself back at the bandit leader for another attack, causing him to dodge, then twist to aim a punch at her side. She cast Ice 3 to freeze his hand before he could strike the blow, and spun back to him to bring her blade down. The bandit lifted his frozen hand so she cut into the ice, cracking it and freeing his hand as he got his bearings back and jumped to his feet. They both hopped apart to assess one another warily for a moment, then jumped at one another again in a flurry of movement.

When Tseng noticed a few of the others move to attack Percia from behind, he shot them down, killing two and leaving a third just injured enough to not be able to attack.

A moment later, the bandit leader was sprawled on the ground flat on his back, Percia leaning over him, one knee braced on his chest and with her blade tip pressed against his throat. "Surrender," she demanded calmly.

For a moment, the bandit leader just stared at her, then said with reverence, "I've never met someone who could best me so easily—definitely not a woman. I surrender, and I swear my allegiance to you. Just give me—us—orders and we'll take care of it. Anything."

Tseng blinked as Percia tipped her head to the side in confusion and asked intelligently, "Huh?"

Sighing, Tseng said, "Basically, keep them fed and housed and give them something to do and they won't cause any further harm."

Percia tipped her head to look at him in confusion for a moment before looking back down at the bandit leader and asking, "Is that true?"

"That about sums it up," he agreed candidly, still looking at her in awe and reverence.

She was quiet for a moment before frowning faintly and asking, "Hey, Tseng, is that even _allowed_ for Turks to do?"

"I think that's at Vincent's discretion, as the Director," the Wutain shrugged. "Though I think it would make everyone's lives easier if you just ordered him to apply for the Turks."

"I couldn't give him orders then—it would either be Dad or the Director," Percia pointed out.

"Unless you've got another option—and money to pay them with—you'll have to take that up with Vincent," Tseng replied dryly.

"And he'll just help a Hound?" she scowled.

"He does shockingly often, you know," the older Turk told her evenly. "By the way, how long had you been there?"

"Why haven't you taken that girl back to Hojo?" she asked in reply.

"Yeah, like I'm _really_ going to hand my sister in all but blood back to him," Tseng replied with a scowl. "And when I asked Hojo about how useful she would be if I returned her by force, he said he'd rather wait longer and have her come willingly than to just have her tossed back into his hands. He's smart enough to know I wouldn't have asked him unless I knew where she was, and he's willing to wait."

"...Man, you guys are fucked up..." the bandit leader commented dryly. His gaze moved to Tseng as he said, "At least some of the Turks seem to have some honor."

Percia sighed and rose, sheathing her blade as she said, "Fine. You've done that weird, Wutain allegiance thing to me—even though you're not Wutain—so I guess I can't just send you away. Right now, I don't really know what to do, so...I guess I'll just hang around here for awhile while I try to figure it out." Tseng groaned at the words. "Oh, but first, you guys are in need of some food, right?" At the same time, she absently cast healing and life spells on the three Tseng had handled, bringing them back up to par.

"It's been—about two days since we've eaten," the bandit leader said as he sat up.

"Fine. Get—actually, first, what's your name?" the woman asked.

"Shears," he replied, rising.

"Okay, then, Shears. Since you already got up, you and your—crew had better come with me to get some food. I'll be back in a bit, okay, Tseng?" she called to him.

"Yeah..." he agreed tiredly.

"By the way, thanks for watching my back, Guard," she grinned, waving over her shoulder as she marched away, the bandits following her.

After they had left and silence had fallen, Tseng asked no one in particular, "What the Hellfire just happened?"

"The same thing that happens _every_ time," Auryn's voice said in mild amusement from behind him, making him turn to see the blond with a curious Nina in his arms and Alexander at his feet. The others were just behind them.

"You mean Percia always inherits a bandit group?" Tseng asked in confusion.

"She's usually its leader, and usually alongside Fuhito," Auryn replied, and Tseng's eyes widened. "She's usually also amnesiac at the time she joins. But she's _always_ the one who overpowers Shears, so he swears his loyalty to her—that's been true in every case. It just took two years longer to happen this time. And now, they won't join AVALANCHE. I've never seen Felicia as a Turk before. Did the firebombing of Kalm not happen?"

"What firebombing?" Tseng blinked.

"Ah." With that, Auryn turned to go back inside, then paused and said, "You can trust her. And Shears. Give them your trust, and they'll respond to it." He then went inside, followed by Alexander.

When Tseng sought out Aeris' gaze, she smiled faintly and said, "Give it a try. Once the fight stopped, the bad feeling went away."

"Okay," the Wutain agreed.


	20. 19-Awareness

Awareness

Tseng stayed outside the house to wait for the group to get back with Percia, but the others all went to bed. He would have liked to join them—he was exhausted just then—but it was better for someone to meet them when they got back rather than letting them have free reign. While he waited, he mused over the 'firebombing of Kalm', Percia's fate in those scenarios, and her apparent established link with a bandit group. Shears (the name left a lot to be desired) also puzzled him. Would the man have devoted himself to anyone who defeated him, or was it really specific to Percia?

He looked up as the group made their way back, and Percia asked with a raised brow, "Oh, you're still awake? Something wrong?"

On a whim, he asked, "You used to live in Kalm, didn't you?"

"Huh?" she blinked. "Yeah, I grew up there."

"Why did you leave to join the Turks?"

She paused several feet from him, head tipped to the side like she was looking at something strange. The bandits just waited quietly. Finally, she answered, "I'd always known Dad was a Turk, but until I saw some Turks catch a terrorist hiding out at one of the abandoned farmhouses just outside of town, I mostly just thought of him as my own cool, super-hero Dad, you know?" She gave him a faintly amused look, and he had to give a small smile in reply—he had indeed also thought of his father that way until his death. "After I saw that, the Turks became the coolest thing ever, so I kinda ran away from home and came to Midgar myself to get some training so I'd be able to join."

Eyes wide with shock, Tseng asked, "You _ran away from home_? How old _were_ you?"

"Fifteen," the younger Turk replied in amusement. "That was three years ago or so—I guess not too long after you would have joined. So, I was actually 'an adult' and able to get work. It was tough and I almost gave up a few times." Her gaze then turned wryly pained as she went on, "I had found work at a—erm—adult shop, and some of the customers thought I was 'free' since I worked there, and Dad walked in on that. Geez, he totally mopped the floor with those two guys, then reamed me out so bad I actually thought my ears would bleed. I'm pretty sure the two guys left with extra holes in some very unfortunate places, too. That just cinched it for me—I was going to be a Turk. And I didn't actually want my dad to walk me through it, because that would have been cheating."

Tseng actually inclined his head in recognition of her sense of honor. "And your Mother?"

"She forbade me to go to Midgar or join a profession as dangerous as the Turks—that's why I ran away. But, when she found me gone, she got in touch with Dad, so he started tracking me, hence him showing up right then. That it took him almost six months to find me was part of the reason he agreed to let me stay in Midgar and make my own way, but he also told me he'd drag me to Shinra himself and toss me in the Academy if I couldn't find a weapon and someone to train me within a month, and without going to him for help. Of course, that meant I had to put real thought into how I could go about getting those things."

"And that somehow led you to Sephiroth?" the Wutain blinked.

"Sure," Percia agreed dryly. "Obviously, there was only one place I could go to in order to ask someone not my dad for training in a weapon—and not get a deal worse than just an 'I'm not interested.' Since most of the Shinra building floors are open to the public, I went to the training floors to see if someone training right then would be willing to give me a hand. It just so happened the person I found was Sephiroth, and after testing me that day, he told me he could respect my drive and my destination, so he'd help me. I've been sparring with him since. He even gave me Kurosai—that's my sword—as a gift before wishing me luck in the exams, and promised I'd have SOLDIER if the Turks didn't want me."

For a minute, Tseng just eyed her in surprise, then asked, "You're good friends with Sephiroth, who is a Guard, but you chose the Hounds?"

"My dad's a Hound, Tseng," she glared.

"Uh huh. Did anyone ever tell you about the differences between the two?"

"No offense meant, but anyone who is actively a Guard or a Hound is actually biased, and their word as to which one is the better option is rather subjective. Unless I can find someone outside that cycle to tell me about them, I have no reason to listen to _either_ toot their own whistles. So, I just picked whichever one I felt like picking."

Tseng couldn't help it, he just dropped his head into his hands tiredly. Percia really had no clue what was really going on or what she'd walked into. On the other hand, Auryn and Aeris were probably right to say she could be trusted, but most of that was due to a lack of information.

"Uh, Tseng?" she asked, poking the top of his head.

"If you keep on without knowing the situation, you're going to end up as a casualty in this war," he sighed, then lifted his head in time to see her blink in surprise. "If you really _were_ good enough for Sephiroth to promise you a place in SOLDIER, I don't see that your match with Shears could have gone any other way. Since it doesn't rain under the Plate, and never gets especially cold, they should be able to make do with finding places around here and the garden to get some rest. And _you_ still need to decide what to _do_ with them."

At the words, Percia sighed and moved over to flop down on the step beside him. "Yeah, that's the hard part, isn't it?"

"What's with—half of Shinra apparently being at war with the other half?" Shears asked with a small frown.

Rubbing the back of his head, Tseng commented, "Speaking of, I need to apologize to Auryn for having my information wrong. It wasn't until Kariya told me I'd had it wrong that I knew the whole story. It should be the same one as the one the Hounds get, and it actually started with Vincent, Doctor Crescent, and baby Sephiroth."

"Baby—so twenty years ago?" Percia asked in surprise.

"That's right," the Wutain agreed. He then told them about the situation and the divide, finishing with, "And with the division the way it is, both sides are actively in danger from the other side. Except, apparently, in Scarlet's office."

The eighteen-year-old Turk frowned and asked, "But you're helping me, and I helped you, so why's that the case if we're 'in danger from the other side'?"

"Not everyone keeps to those lines all the time. But, well, if you put, say, Balto and Verde in the same room together for more than a couple minutes, they'll probably have nearly killed each other soon after," the older Turk shrugged. "Rather, if I use _them_ as the example, it's not 'probably', it's '_will_'. Verde's protective instincts and Balto's inherent sadistic streak apparently clash something awful, and putting them alone _anywhere_ is basically lighting a very short fuse on a powder keg."

Percia snorted and asked, "So does that effect happen with Verde and Lakis, too?"

Frowning in confusion, Tseng asked, "Why would it?"

"Because Lakis is in the same Lifestyle as Balto, and _a lot_ more creative. He's also not shy about seeing blood, or trying new—and often dangerous—things. I guess the one good point about that is Lakis' tendency to do research like it's going out of style," the younger woman replied dryly, and was punctuated by a snort from Shears.

"...Why do you even _know_ that?" the older Turk asked in shock.

"Uh...Tseng...I worked in an 'adult shop' for three years, and the only shops which are successful specifically have a section for kink. My shop had a rather large one in a separate room at the back, so if you were completely vanilla, you wouldn't have to see the kink stuff, but it was there for those who wanted it. I actually knew both Lakis and Balto for _three years_ before finding out they were Turks. Though, I could do without kink myself, but when you work in the field, you start to learn things about it, whether you want to or not. And—surprise, surprise—I've even met and known Ansha and Ruluf, too. They were less extreme, though. And it seriously shocked me to see Ruluf with the Turks—I'd thought he was one of Corneo's goons."

"He was until recently," Tseng shrugged, feeling very tired suddenly.

The men began wandering into the gardens around the house as Percia fell silent for a few minutes, though Shears stayed nearby. Finally, she showed how long she'd actually been there as she asked, "That boy—the blond 'stray' you Guards brought in—what's with him? I mean...it's pretty obvious he's screwed up, more than normal, but if Doriss is to be believed, _all_ of us should be protecting him. Not all the Hounds agree."

After a silence and a moment to recall the fact that Auryn had said she was trust-worthy, Tseng sighed heavily and said, "Doriss is right. He's got so much information your head would spin if he tried to tell it all at once, and while some of it serves more as a warning as things stand, a lot of it is actually dangerous things we need to react to. Until earlier today, I never thought I could actually become the kind of person who could torture someone, but now...That's a very valid warning for me to watch myself if I don't want to become a torturer—because now I know I _could_, if I were to let myself justify it. The realization was shocking, as it meant he has a valid fear...About all of us. Though, he seems to trust _you_, for some reason."

"...Why me?" the younger Turk blinked in surprise.

"My best guess is that the worst you ever did to him was kill him cleanly and quickly if he had killed an associate of yours in the 'scenarios' he's been running through," the Wutain sighed. "That is, you never tortured him or anything so extreme."

"...I see." After a silence, Percia frowned and asked, "Why would he have killed 'an associate of mine' if he trusts me?"

"The associate in question, due to a rather large difference between the scenarios and this reality, is the leader of AVALANCHE, Fuhito—a man likely worse than Hojo as far as sadism goes."

"Hold on—_what_ kind of reality would have had me join forces with an anti-Shinra terrorist?" the woman asked in horror. Shears looked up to stare at them with a puzzled expression.

"From what little he's said, I gather the incident you mentioned with the Turks and the terrorist had led to a 'firebombing of Kalm', which in turn led to you having lost your memory and being found by Fuhito. I don't know the whole story, but apparently, Auryn never held that quirk against you, since you seem to be cut from a different cloth, Fuhito's influence aside."

"...And you guys are suddenly looking into AVALANCHE why?"

"Fuhito is just plain psychotic as far as we can tell, and will go so far as torturing a child's soul by forcing it to torture others, assuming he has the means with which to do so. We haven't been told everything yet, but if some of the things he did to Auryn are true, he's a very real danger to everyone. And—we have reason to think he would, and will, do anything Auryn _has_ told us about."

"I think I'd agree with that—never met a human as cold as the Northern Crater before I crossed paths with him a couple years ago," Shears threw in suddenly, surprising the two younger Turks into looking at him.

"What do you mean, you 'crossed paths with him'?" Percia asked with a small frown.

"He and the few with him seemed like easy targets," the older man replied. "So we attacked them. And lost miserably. I lost about two thirds of my men to injuries no Restore Materia would heal—he was using one of those really rare, new laser guns."

"...So why didn't you declare your loyalty to him for defeating you back then?" the younger woman asked in confusion.

"He had no honor," Shears said bluntly. "He wasn't _worthy_ of my loyalty—even _Turks_ will fight more fairly than him, and his idea of any situation is 'win at all costs, by any means, even lying, cheating, stealing, kidnapping, torturing...' If you guys are after him, that's a _good_ thing in my books."

Tseng and Percia traded looks, then she faced the older man to say, "I see. Thanks for that data, Shears."

"Do you think you could turn off the spotlight now, though?" Tseng asked the younger Turk dryly.

"Huh?" she blinked, then snorted and rose, saying, "Sure thing." Percia then paused before asking, "Hey, Tseng...If we're on opposite sides of a war, why did you share all that with me?"

Leaning back and bracing his hands behind him, the Wutain replied evenly, "Auryn said you're trust-worthy. Don't make either of us regret that decision."

The woman looked back at him for a moment, then headed away to however she'd gotten up to the underside of the Plate. Several minutes later, the spotlight went out, then she shouted, "Hey, Shears! Catch!"

Tseng went cross-eyed as Shears jumped up in alarm, searching the darkness above—and diving off to one side to catch the younger woman before she hit the ground. Rubbing his eyes tiredly as Percia grinned at a scowling Shears, the Wutain opted to head inside to get some rest, so rose.

As Shears was putting Percia down on her feet, the Wutain said, "I _did_ mean it when I said you should ask Vincent about what to do—going to him directly for help will be a lot easier on all the Turks than you trying to go through Verdot."

"Okay..." she agreed in surprise as he turned to face the door. As Tseng opened it, she added, "Good night."

"Good night," he replied automatically, then stepped inside and closed the door—

Only to chuckle as he heard Shears shout at Percia, "Don't be so damned reckless!"

FoWD

Auryn sat at the window in the bedroom Aeris and Nina usually shared, a sleeping Nina in his lap and Alexander curled up against his feet. Aeris was still sleeping on the bed—when they'd first settled, she'd been at his back while Nina had been against his chest, as usual. He'd seen what had happened outside, but hadn't heard anything until Shears had shouted at the young woman. The blond wondered if Percia—Felicia—even _needed_ anyone to catch her, or if she'd just been playing a game, but knowing her skills the way he did, there was a good chance she'd have been fine. Or maybe not without something to break her fall before she hit ground. Even SOLDIERs couldn't fall that distance without dying, after all.

That wasn't actually very important to him right then, though. Whatever attachment he had to Nina—that was a problem.

He'd fallen, and he'd broken, but he was starting to realize he wasn't actually ready to give up yet. As soon as he'd said he 'wasn't ready _yet_' to Tseng, he'd become aware that he still had some strength, deep inside him somewhere. It was there, and these people wanted to draw it out. While he wasn't sure how he felt about that, some part of him also resonated with the thought of being truly strong again, of being _himself_ again, and he wanted to be able to have that, to walk around without fearing his own shadow.

Staying attached as he was to Nina wouldn't help him become strong. Why had he even done it? Had it been an instinctive reaction to meeting the little girl he'd cherished so much, alive and well, and _here_, of all places? Back years ago, back when he'd been twelve, he'd accepted her death and had never expected to see her again, let alone on Gaia. She had always been more mature than normal children her age, but had been able to overcome any sadness to find joy in life, and he'd been drawn to her because of it. She had always been wiser than him, moving forward instead of trying to hold onto the past.

While he instinctively wanted to say he'd suffered so much more than she had, he was fairly certain it wasn't true—they had both suffered equally as much to get where they now were, just in different ways. Her having been remade as a Cetra sort of gave that away.

A Cetra child, a Healer, just like Aeris.

Budling.

Did Aeris even _know_ Minerva called all very young Cetra 'Budlings'? While Aeris at her current 'adult' age had been dubbed 'Beloved Child' by Minerva (then again, _everyone_ was a 'child' in comparison to her), back when she'd been Nina's age, she'd been called 'Beloved Budling' by the entity. Because Minerva was a planetary entity, much of what she did and how she recognized things was in relation to the natural flow of life, and her people were similar to plants in her view, so when they were young, she termed them similarly to the new growth of plants.

Of course, all of that was pointless information he was really only thinking on to distract himself from the real issue—separating himself from Nina. There was no way he could take her back to Shinra, after all. He'd never willingly put her in such danger. Similarly, he couldn't stay away too long, or it was likely someone a lot less well-meaning than Percia would come looking. So much depended on him being able to step away from her (physically), so he would have to start moving forward...sooner and faster than he was likely ready to.

But if he went into a panic at the thought of having to put her down...what then?

_:Then, Ancient Sentinel, you learn to move forward,:_ Minerva told him gently, directly into his mind.

_:I was just thinking about that. The problem is in the 'learning to move forward' part,:_ he answered her similarly, pained and bitter—not towards her, but towards himself.

A sensation like a shaking of the head came to him from her before she replied, _:One of the pains you suffer from holds you back from resolving the rest—that _you_ are somehow at fault for all you suffered.:_

_:But I _am_!:_ he replied, suddenly finding himself struggling to not cry. _:In the whole time I knew them, any of them, there were so many things I never realized, things I could have used to have prevented those things from happening! Like with Balto every time he tortured me to death, if I'd known the trigger, I could have prevented it!:_

_:...The situation was no different. Had you known his trigger, what would you have done differently? Sacrificed the others you also cared about?:_

The words caused him to draw in a sharp breath. He suddenly felt Aeris sit at his back and lean her head sleepily on his shoulder, even as he realized most of the situations in which he 'could have' changed something would have had worse results for a lot more people if he had. Knowing the trigger...would he have actually chosen another path, if the only other ones had meant dozens would have died? In cases with Tseng and Aeris, if he'd thought to present himself to Aeris as a woman, it may not have changed much beyond his having survived—or, alternately, it could have gone equally as bad or worse. Those had potential to change, but in cases with Balto, those had always been bad, with only 'bad', 'worse', and 'devastating' as options.

_:The one who you call 'Balto' wept over the realization of what you had spared the others once he had returned and been told the situation. Every time but one, he deeply regretted what he had done to you. I tried many times to share this knowledge with you, but you were so pained it would not reach you while in that state,:_ Minerva told him in her soft, gentle tone. _:And your actions were not wrong. Some of those, exactly because of what you did, managed to survive long enough for a proper Omega to form, if nothing else, and more lives were spared in them than in most others.:_

_:How did so many of them go so wrong?:_ he asked brokenly, crying softly into Nina's hair.

A soft, sigh-like sound reached him before she answered, _:Perhaps, had your time of arrival been sooner, more of them could have changed. Perhaps, had I been able to place you—years earlier, by the way you count time, many more possible paths of the world would have been less violent. However, I could not place you earlier. It was a struggle against Jeh-nova even to place you at a time before the Calamity's Children fell prey to her insanity. 'Time' is difficult enough for me to grasp in the way you know it, but the power Jeh-nova had then was—phenomenal. Now, much of that power has been negated, yet your time of arrival has already been set. In most paths, the little children of mine you care so much for had been violently abused beyond what you had already been aware of, or had been mentally trained to have certain thoughts or reactions, regardless of their own will. They had given up. I have no wish to see _you_ give up, my Ancient Sentinel.:_

_:...What about Jeh-nova's power and the other paths?:_ he asked with a faint, mental frown, though he was still crying softly outwardly.

_:Every action has no less than two choices. At times, actions have no bearing on the path of a world, but at others, simply being in another place due to a choice made earlier could vastly change the outcome. As such, one 'path' often has many alternates. In the case of Jeh-nova, of course, any path more advantageous to her—any path which was more destructive—was the preferable one and the one she emphasized. That was the origin of the many, many violent paths you have passed through._

_:What you have systematically been doing is eliminating those paths, forcing them into a state of destruction either where I have successfully escaped her or where both she and I were destroyed. Yes, the latter is preferable to what would have become of things had she survived and I had perished. By eliminating those paths, you have also been forcibly merging them, and by eliminating the most negative paths, you have forcibly reached paths where she had less influence. It is my hope that her power base has now been weakened enough for things to result in a much better outcome from this point forward. It has much greater potential here than in any previous path but the first I was able to place you in. It is also my hope to see you move forward here.:_

It took Auryn a few minutes to process all of what she had just told him, but the realization of what she was saying made him suddenly relax in a way he hadn't in...he had no idea how long. Even if there _were_ other dimensions after this one, they wouldn't turn out so poorly, and the knowledge he was gaining in this one would make things turn out even better. It made sense to say Jeh-nova had the same kind of core as Minerva, and to know his short (or long) stays in the other dimensions had been weakening her overall power directly through her core...That also meant Minerva was gaining more power, and by extension...

The nightmare was almost over, and even if he kept traveling to new paths after this one, none would ever again be as bad as what he'd already suffered.


	21. 20-Crossing Lines

Crossing Lines

Percia sat on the front step of the house with her PHS in her hand as she stared at the screen and tried to decide what to do. Shears sat near her, leaning against a barrel which had been pushed up against the side of the house, and was watching her like a hawk since her jump earlier. Really, she didn't blame him, but the incident had shown her what she'd wanted to know—his words earlier, swearing himself to her service, were entirely true, in all senses of the words. She could trust him.

On the other hand, could she trust Tseng or _his_ word, especially after everything she'd heard? For what it was worth, he didn't really have a reason to lie to her about that, but—would her father have really tried to kill Lady Shinra? Despite the past incident with Lady Shinra and the President both playing favorites, and her father having been helped by the President, she knew Verdot wasn't Lady Shinra's enemy.

"Tseng wasn't lying," Shears suddenly put in, making her look up at him. "What he told you is what he absolutely believes to be true, and the thing which sort of cinched it for me in his favor was how he admitted his error. I know Kariya as the Death God of the Battlefield—same one or not?"

"As far as I know, Kariya used to be an anti-Shinra terrorist, and he uses bombs, so probably. No one's explicitly stated it yet, though. Why?" she asked curiously.

"Kariya's a straight arrow—he's vicious to his enemies, but he's also loyal, skilled, and doesn't bother with lies, can even spot them a mile away. I know, I tried to pull one over on him once. It didn't work, even though it was a practiced lie. If Kariya's the one who corrected Tseng, he'd have to believe he was passing on the truth," Shears shrugged. "That means you should take him at his word and call your Director directly."

She gave Shears a faintly amused look, then turned her gaze back to her PHS. "There was just one flaw in what he said—I know personally from my father that he..." She paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "I don't know about that incident from way back even before the one with baby Sephiroth, but I _know_ Dad has _a lot_ more respect for and trust in Lady Shinra than Tseng's version of the story indicated. Dad even told me bluntly not too long ago that, if things had happened differently, he'd be just as loyal to her as Vincent is—he reveres her. So when Tseng said Dad tried to kill Lady Shinra—that just doesn't make sense to me."

For a minute, Shears was silent, then commented, "Turks play a very dangerous game with death, and President Shinra is holding their nooses. Their only mitigating factor is Lady Shinra. Just the fact that Turks on opposite sides of the 'battle line' can be so helpful to one another should show things aren't as clear-cut as 'us against them'. On the other hand, if President Shinra had any reason to doubt his ownership power of at least half the Turks, what do you think he'd do to _all_ of you to make sure he could keep control of you? I mean, since he's a control freak and he obviously has shockingly little power over his wife, and probably his son, too?"

First, the younger woman looked up at him sharply, then blinked in surprise as she processed what he was saying, then gaped, "Do you mean to say my father is setting up an elaborate _lie_ so the President doesn't start offing Turks in an attempt to have some sort of control over them?"

With a bit of a shrug, the man replied, "I've seen more convoluted shit than that. I also think he has his own reasons to have loyalty towards the President, but if what you said about his view of Lady Shinra is true, he has a _reason_ for going so far. And Tseng still didn't lie to you, so if you're going to make the call, you'd better do it before your big boss turns in for the night—he may even have already done so."

Percia blinked again, then sighed and nodded, finding the correct number on her phone, then letting it dial as she lifted it to her ear. After a couple rings, a very confused, male voice asked her, "What happened that you felt you needed to call me rather than your father, Percia?"

"Yeah, calling you directly was actually Tseng's advice, but even if I'd called Dad, it would have needed to go to you anyway," she replied dryly. "I seem to have inherited a group of bandits, and now I need to figure out what to _do_ with them so they have the basic necessities and something to keep them busy."

There was an extended silence, then a long sigh. "Explain, please." She told him more details on what had taken place, then waited as another silence followed. Vincent then said, "The best option I can think of is to have you act as their 'contact' while they act as 'informants' to the Turks. That could also mean they do some policing for us in the Slums, catching someone they know we're after who committed a crime, for example. However, under those terms, you would need to thoroughly study all of both the Hounds' and the Guards' active missions, know which ones apply to which faction, and share only related data with each side. There are enough of them to have two or three in each Slum Sector town, which would greatly increase our network in the Slums. They'd be paid by the same terms as any other informant—every time they provide data towards a mission or alerting us to a new problem, they'll get a decent cash payout."

First, the younger Turk's brow furrowed in confusion, then she asked, "Wait, don't I have to just report back to you on everything I find out?"

"That's not how it works," the man on the other end of the line replied in amusement. "Unless you plan to turn spy for us on the Hounds, or the reverse, you're only supposed to share the pertinent, mission-related data with the faction it belongs to. Both sides will probably ask you to share data on the other's missions, but you have the right to tell them it's not their business, and no one will push it—not even Verdot or me. For data on a new mission for us, it goes right to Lady Shinra, and she'll allocate it to one faction or the other. Your father will tell you the same about new missions gained from informants."

"...You mean, unless I really think the other side needs to know something, I can—and should—keep them separate?" she blinked.

"That's right. Other questions?" Vincent asked.

"Do you need to know anything about the—former bandits?" Percia asked shrewdly.

"Only Shears, in the event that something happens to you and one of the other Turks needs to get data from him instead. Verdot and I both have regular informant contacts—Lenno and Eonna on my side, and Doriss and Lakis on Verdot's. Shears shouldn't be meeting any Turks besides those four and you who would be asking to collect his data, so if _anyone_ else asks, he can—and should—demand they send someone he has approval to give it to. If something happens to you, he'll be responsible for maintaining the network and gathering data from his people until you're back and able to gather from them again. Or, having him operate the network from the start may work better for you—that'll be your choice."

"So if both sides are working on the same mission—like the AVALANCHE one—I share my data on it with both, or are you going to expect me to try to pick _that_ apart?"

"In the rare event we're both working on the same mission, share it with both. No, you don't have to try to pick those kind apart. Even if you tried, the other side would have the same data soon after, so spare us the trouble. Anything else?"

"Will they make a decent living off being informants to the Turks?"

At her dry tone, Vincent chuckled and told her, "For reliable information, especially regular updates on multiple issues, they would be able to live quite well. If you were collecting weekly, for example, and we knew you reliably brought back from them five pieces of data for both sides—ten in total—they'd be averaging the same weekly wage as a Silver rank Turk. Each one of them."

With an impressed whistle, she said, "I'll talk with them, then, and unless I call you back before I get back to the Shinra building tomorrow, we'll call it a go. Speaking of Fuhito, though, apparently he's a brutal son of a bitch who happens to use a laser gun, probably one he made himself. Restore Materia can't heal the wounds from a laser gun, and Fuhito will do anything it takes to win, even lying, cheating, kidnapping—basically, anything he thinks he needs to so he can get the result he wants."

"...How did you find that out?"

"Shears told me. A couple years ago, he had a run-in with Fuhito, and that was what he found out in the process."

"Fine, we'll add that to their pay. Is there somewhere I can send the other informant contacts to pass it on to them so they have something to start with?"

"Tomorrow morning, we should all be at the Noodle Shop in Six to get some grub."

"Good. You'll be seeing Lenno and Eonna in the morning. In this case, when you get back, report that data to your father as well."

"Got it. Thanks, Director," Percia said with a smile.

"You're welcome, and good night," Vincent replied with faint amusement.

They both hung up, and she looked at Shears to explain the deal, then said, "The deal sounds pretty good to me. Did I miss anything you want to know before you give a final decision?"

He gave a small, dismissive wave and answered, "Yeah, it's a good deal—being an informant, especially to the Turks, SOLDIER, or the Infantry, has _always_ paid well. What it does for _you_ is allows you access to all the data across the board so you know what _everyone's_ doing. That's not a small thing, and could actually help keep you alive, so the arrangement works well. We're still taking our orders from you, and if you're in danger and we know it, we're going to divert to get you out of it—everything else will wait. How do you want us to set things up?"

She told him Vincent's offers in that regard, then said, "I don't know which one would work better for you. If you're scattered across the Slums, I'll have to do a lot of leg-work to go to each of you independently, but a lot less if you gather it all and give it to me directly. There's plenty of benefits and—non-benefits—to both, probably a dozen each way of them, so your stance on it is important."

"How badly do you want to be in the Shinra building all day?" the older man asked in a rather shrewd tone.

She blinked. "It's only once a week unless you have something urgent to report, right? If that's true, I don't think I'd mind taking most of a day away from the building. It'll also help me stay familiar with the Slums—or get familiar with the Sectors I don't already know—if I go to each one to collect data."

"Then the best option is exactly that, with only urgent data coming directly through me. You'll know it's urgent by the fact that it came from me outside the cycle you'll be setting, other than the first bit while we're splitting ourselves up and arranging times and places to meet. As for places—not in the Sector the crew is watching. Say, if I'm placed in Sector Five, we'd either meet in Sector Four or Six. It'll take some coordination, and we're not doing it tonight. I'm glad you picked a different restaurant from tonight's though," he told her in faint amusement. "Now, let's get some rest."

"Sure..." Percia agreed, still rather surprised by the response. They joined the rest of Shears' men to settle and rest, though the young woman didn't get much of it, as active as her mind was that night.

FoWD

Doriss was sure she was missing something about what she was looking at. It wasn't anything as mundane as Auryn and Tseng both having vanished at the same time—it was pretty obvious Tseng's stake-out was a cover for something else, because Kariya would be worried if it hadn't been planned. No, she was completely puzzled by the records she'd managed to hijack from Doctor Crescent's office in the city, something she'd managed by finding a sewer route into the office's basement through an old drainage vent which came out in the cement floor behind a large storage shelf.

Of course, it had been accidental when she'd been trying to escape a monster which had been attacking Midgar's citizens for two weeks already. The exit had given her much-needed time and advantage to kill the bloody thing (she was sure the Turks had to take care of it because it was a Lab escapee), and when she'd gone to make her way out of the building after she'd finished with her mission, she'd realized very quickly where she'd ended up. From there, she'd also had open access to all the things she normally couldn't reach, because she was now 'behind enemy lines' and off their radar.

No Turk would have walked away without taking advantage of that, so she'd been sure to hijack copies of everything she could hijack. Computer files were on a memory stick—she knew Doctor Crescent would eventually realize it was missing, but wouldn't know who'd taken it—and paper files had gone in a clean waste basket bag so she could carry the copies back to her apartment. The Doctor's absence from her office that day had given her the quiet and the time to make copies on the woman's own photocopy machine.

Divine intervention wasn't normally something Doriss believed in, but this time—she'd be hard-pressed to say it was anything else. How many coincidences could happen before it wasn't coincidence anymore? Someone—a being with a great deal of power—_wanted_ her to find this data. By extension, it meant she was being trusted with it, but she wasn't entirely sure whose trust it was based on. Was it Verdot's or the President's? Lady Shinra's and Vincent's? Genesis' or Kariya's? While all of those had potential, something told her the most likely option was that it was _Auryn's_.

Oh, yes, there was data about any and all of the above people in the collection she'd taken, and she'd have to be equally as careful with it, but the reality was—all of those _combined_ were a mere fraction of what Auryn's file held.

She felt for the young man.

His 'blood' wasn't blood, his genetic structure was such a mess sanity was outside his control, he'd been tortured in rather permanent ways. If the Doctor's records were correct, no human could have survived so much suffering, physically—and the fact that it showed physically made her certain he'd _actually lived through_ it all, not 'mentally' lived through it in some sort of false scenarios. Yeah, he had issues. He had damned good reason to have them, too. She suddenly wondered what Anki's solution to break him free of his past was, because she was now absolutely certain even Fuhito couldn't torture him enough (without killing him in the process) to break him away from what he'd already suffered.

It had been a couple hours since she'd gotten back, reported in, been sent home for the rest of her shift, and had a shower. Since finishing her clean-up process, dressing in her Turk uniform again in case she was called back to work, and checking quickly on Auryn—to find him not there—she'd been working her way through just the paperwork. What she'd already found was a nightmare without even starting on the computer files, and she was beginning to wonder if she should even look at those. It was her tactical mind which stipulated she _had_ to, because the more information she had on what to expect, the better. So, she kept working her way through it.

What cinched it for her, to make her believe Auryn had lived through those horrors, was how both Hojo's and Fuhito's genetic-work fingerprints were visible in his genetic structure. It was even more interesting that, apparently, one of the 'Hojos' Auryn had met had actively tried to fix some of the damage, and had even had some success—if he hadn't done it, there was a good chance Auryn wouldn't be sane right then. At all. She had never really associated the head of the Science Department with 'benevolence', but Hojo had never had any reason to try to fix anything, so there couldn't have been any other reason he'd tried.

Maybe she was thinking of Auryn's situation the wrong way.

Leviathan's Blessing was a good starting point to use, because even Auryn had admitted it was 'superficially similar'. However, there had to be other entities out there besides Leviathan, who could notably only send someone, or a few someones, back in time _once_. Changing the scenario changed the outcome, but what happened if the same outcome kept happening, even if smaller events changed in between? A more powerful being than Leviathan might be able to send someone back in time many times, and every time they were sent back, the situation would be just a little different, because the previous one had ceased to exist. While she wasn't a major student of the sciences, she was aware of dimensional theory, and it was highly likely Auryn's 'scenarios' were him being shunted from dimension to dimension. All very real, all realities he had lived through.

If it was true other dimensions actually existed, it was also possible people in them had made different choices or had different lives, and Hojo was no exception to that—some version of him, somewhere, could well have been benevolent.

In the meantime, the lifetimes Auryn had lived had left behind their marks, and too few of those lifetimes had been ones where people had actually tried to fix the damage to him. Now, someone was trying, but had to be very careful not to let the data fall into the wrong hands, and now Doriss knew said data. Had proof of it, in fact. Normally, she'd have taken it to Verdot right away, but she knew her chosen boss was a harsher sort than Vincent, and she wasn't entirely certain Verdot wouldn't cause Auryn more suffering. He had a precedent for doing damage to people—Donnel was just the tip of the iceberg—and she definitely wasn't stupid. And she didn't want to see Auryn suffer uselessly.

She was so wrapped up in her reading that she didn't hear anyone come in until she heard a sharp intake of breath and the hair on the back of her neck rose. Pure instinct made her throw herself to the side, papers in hand, as a burning fist struck the place she'd been sitting. Twisting as she got her feet under her, she looked up, expecting to see someone like Ansha, a Guard through-and-through—but instead, she saw Donnel as he moved to attack her again. It was clear by the panic in his gaze that he had never expected to see her with such data—and that he was sure she wasn't supposed to have it.

A Guard's reaction, not a Hound's.

She had no time to ponder that as she gripped the papers tightly and bolted for the balcony doors, activating the more unique traits on her thigh sheaths—a grappling hook system she could use to effectively jump off the balcony and land safely on the ground a minute later. In this case, though, she only swung down to the SOLDIER apartments below hers, landing hard on Angeal's balcony as the hook wire shook violently—Donnel had attacked the wire to slow her down, or maybe even to drop her to her death. Thankfully, she'd been close enough for a safe, if hard, landing, and a very worried Angeal had already opened his balcony door.

It only took her a moment to bolt inside past him, even as Donnel landed on the balcony rail and jumped at her again—only to be seized and held tightly by Angeal. The larger, much stronger man held the smaller Turk tightly against his body as Donnel thrashed, snarled, and shouted, "Let me go! She's not supposed to have that!"

The apartment door leading to the hall opened and Genesis walked in, asking, "What's with all the noise?" as he did.

Doriss realized belatedly that she'd accidentally triggered an actual, very real panic attack in Donnel, so she jumped forward to strike the back of his neck at the base of his skull with the blunt handle of one of her daggers. The other Turk went limp in Angeal's arms, so the larger man carefully lifted him in both arms and placed him on the couch before facing her.

"What was _that_ all about?" Angeal asked apprehensively as he eyed her and the papers she carried shrewdly. Genesis just watched quietly with a slight frown.

Feeling the strain in her shoulders and neck, Doriss tried to relax the muscles, but it didn't work, so she gave her head a small shake and replied, "Apparently, Donnel is more of a Guard than a Hound, and I found some—very sensitive data which caused him a panic attack when he saw it. As he said, 'I'm not supposed to have it'."

"Enough for him to almost kill someone he truly thinks of as a friend?" Genesis asked in a dry tone, motioning towards the balcony doors with one hand.

Looking, Doriss realized Donnel _had_ actually tried to kill her—he'd severed the grappling hook from the cord. If she'd tried to go any further, she'd have fallen. But when something triggered Donnel, logic wasn't exactly something he could process, so she looked back at Genesis and replied, "He lived a good part of his life as a slave. If he triggers, he goes right back into the mindset of a slave who was used as much for combat as other things—he wasn't even aware it was _me_ he was attacking by then, only that I had something he's been programmed to hide from the Hounds."

The other two men traded looks, then Angeal asked her, "And what did you find on your last mission which 'you're not supposed to have'?"

She looked between them for a minute, then focused on Genesis and said, "Most of it's about Auryn, and I'd rather not share."

"Who?" Angeal asked in confusion.

After a moment, Genesis nodded and agreed, "Fine. If you don't want to share it, there's a good chance he's in danger if it starts to become public knowledge, so it's likely best we don't know. I don't want to see him hurt. Mother lion." At the last, the red haired man's tone became teasing as he grinned.

At the words, Doriss finally felt her muscles relax, so she gave a small smile and said, "Thanks."

With a snort, the younger man asked, "You're not even going to try to deny that you're treating him like he's your cub?"

"Why should I? I know damned well I'm protective of him," she replied with a small pout.

Donnel groaned and shifted just then, so Doriss carefully set the papers on the floor under the coffee table so he wouldn't be able to see them, then sat beside the younger Turk. His eyes opened and he blinked up at her in confusion, so she asked, "How much do you actually remember of the last little while—since you got to my apartment?"

"I..." he began, then stopped with a frown and looked around, seeing himself in an apartment which was neither Doriss' nor his own. "I was going to go talk with you about something—not relevant now—and I saw you reading a file...I wondered what you were working on...And..." His eyes widened and gasped, "Auryn's medical paperwork!"

As he started to sit up, about to panic again, she caught his shoulders and said, "I'm not going to tell anyone."

Donnel froze for a long moment, then met her gaze with a puzzled frown. "You...won't tell Verdot?" Both Angeal and Genesis had to blink at that, she saw out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm not entirely sure he'd do right by Auryn, so no," she replied. "Everyone's teasing me about how I'm practically mothering him—the _last_ thing I want is to see him hurt, all right? And Donnel, by how I got that data, I'm _sure_ some higher force wanted me to have it—but I'm _also_ sure that force wants Auryn protected, something I can't trust Verdot to do with his track record, even just with _you_."

The younger man blinked at her twice, then let his eyes drift away as he processed what she was saying—then they widened as he saw something near the balcony doors and breathed, "Oh, Shiva! Are you all right, Dor?" His terrified gaze moved back to her searchingly, and she realized he'd seen the damaged end of the grappling wire.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I landed a bit hard, but not even enough to cause long-term pain. I'm just lucky I wasn't aiming to get to the ground, only to a couple floors lower. And with the state you were in—I can forgive that. Just don't do it again over Auryn—I'm not his enemy."

After a short silence, Donnel breathed a sigh of relief and reached up to wrap his arms around her in a tight hug. "Thank Gaia! I'm so sorry!"

Genesis and Angeal traded looks again before the black haired SOLDIER said, "We should probably find somewhere else to be while they finish sorting themselves out."

"Sure thing," Genesis agreed, and the two walked out, leaving the Turks to collect themselves and their papers and leave on their own time.


	22. 21-Uneven Lines

Uneven Lines

As Angeal and Genesis walked down the hall towards the elevator, the dark haired man asked, "Genesis...Who's Auryn, and what _was_ that back there?"

"Hm," the red haired man hummed in faint amusement. "Can't let it go now that you're involved?"

"Apparently, people stand to be hurt, and Doriss bluntly saying someone who should be an ally might not do right by that person—you can't tell me nothing's wrong with that," Angeal pointed out in a dry tone.

"Why does it bother you when you're _friends_ with Sephiroth?" the other man asked in reply. When Angeal just sighed, Genesis said, "Auryn is the new stray the Guards brought back. Generally, apparently the Turks are all aware he knows a lot about things going on—the Guards obviously know more than the Hounds, except maybe for Doriss. He's also a torture victim and prone to panic attacks over even smaller things than Scarlet. I watched him have a breakdown in her office not long ago, and managed to pull him out of it...But I got the impression that was a lucky shot, and he may have needed medical help if...Well, since he seems to 'know' some of us, I guess I was someone he felt he could trust somehow. I'm not clear on that, but it worked when I needed it to, I guess."

"And why isn't Doriss telling Verdot?"

"Donnel's _your_ contact with the Turks. Haven't you ever noticed the same thing Doriss just bluntly pointed out?"

"...He _does_ seem to treat Donnel pretty poorly..."

"Yeah."

There was a long silence as they reached the elevator and stepped inside, then Angeal sighed and said, "I'm still not sure I get what's so important about Auryn's medical paperwork that Donnel would have attacked Doriss over it."

"You're asking the wrong person, you know. Go ask a Turk, or maybe Sephiroth," Genesis retorted dryly. "By the way—where are we going if you've turned your apartment over to the Turks for the time being?"

"Out," Angeal replied shortly. At his red haired friend's raised brow, he gave a faint sigh and elaborated, "To that restaurant in Five, Elements. I know you like that one, and the food's good, so...If I'm not cooking and don't want cafeteria food..."

"Sure," Genesis agreed with a sudden grin. "I want to know if it's true!"

"...If _what's_ true?" the black haired SOLDIER asked warily.

"I heard 'certain people' show up there every week on a specific day—_this_ day. I want to know if it's true," Genesis chuckled. "Since we've never been there on this day, after all."

Sighing, Angeal commented, "If it's not one thing with you, it's another..."

"It's harmless!" quipped the younger of the two, spinning and marching out of the elevator as it opened on the main floor of the building.

The pair walked mostly silently for several minutes, making their way into Sector Five and to the restaurant in question. Finally, Angeal asked, "If we've joined the Hounds, why does it matter to you so much if a Guard, or one of their strays, gets hurt?"

Genesis stopped walking, making the older SOLDIER face him in mild surprise. Tipping his head to the side, Genesis asked, "When did _either_ of us actually 'join' the Hounds?"

"Haven't we? The President—"

"Takes me because he can't take Sephiroth when the General is conveniently never around for publicity stints. At least he knows I'll _be_ there—since I love the spotlight so much, you know? But Angeal, I never _declared_ allegiance to the Hounds, they just take me as one of them because I'm the President's poster boy. By extension, we hang around with them more than we do the Guards, but—I don't have anything against either side, really. Do you?"

Angeal blinked at him, then gave his head a shake and said, "I guess that's a valid point. We never actually stated which side we were on, and got shoved in with the Hounds because of the President. I assumed you had declared us as Hounds at some point, but if you didn't, we don't actually have much reason to abide the battle lines. There's nothing honorable about them, anyway."

"Right," Genesis agreed with a grin. "So, why _shouldn't_ I care about a Guards' stray?" Angeal chuckled at the words.

It took them a bit longer to get to Elements, which was a slightly up-scale restaurant which had a 'four elements' theme to their layout. It was subtle and tastefully done—a person really had to be paying attention to realize the sheer degree of imagery in the place. It generally counted as an average, middle-class place anyone on the Plate could afford, and even the occasional person from the Slums, if they'd had some good luck. As Angeal and Genesis waited to be seated, the two scanned the restaurant, looking for familiar faces—and it was Genesis who found one.

In one corner of the room, the Turk Kariya sat with two younger girls, one around fourteen and one around nine. They looked quite a bit like him—but Genesis had to blink several times at the youngest girl, absently reaching up to tap Angeal's arm. The black haired man looked at him, then followed his gaze—and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw the younger girl at the table. At that moment, Kariya's gaze moved to them, then he blinked, tipped his head slightly to the side—and turned back to the girls he sat with.

The waiter called the two SOLDIERs to seat them, so they made their way to the table the young man led them to and settled, staying silent (other than to order their meals) until their food had arrived.

"So...I couldn't help but notice how much like you that girl looked," Angeal commented to the red haired man.

"...I know," Genesis muttered. "Like a—like a carbon copy, a female version of me. That's—scary somehow."

"Kariya definitely saw us, and knew we were staring." After a pause, Angeal asked, "Who were you actually looking for here?"

"...Him..." Genesis was quiet for a moment before meeting Angeal's worried gaze and saying, "It's fairly recent that he's started coming here, but since it started, it's been pretty reliable. I thought it would be odd for a Turk to be so predictable, so I wanted to know if it was true, and if so, why. I guess I got my answer. Sort of."

"As in, who are those girls to him?" When Genesis nodded, Angeal said, "Probably relatives of his by their similarity to him. But _her_ similarity to _you_...Does that mean you're somehow related to them?"

Blinking, the red haired man said, "I'm adopted, so that's actually possible."

"Will you ask him if he knows?"

"No."

"But maybe you have—"

"Family who didn't want me, but wants _them_? No, thanks."

"What if there's a reason, though?"

"Yeah, right."

At the bitterness in Genesis' tone, Angeal sighed and said, "Let's just start with how Shinra tends to treat their 'experiments', which you and I know we were even before we got the SOLDIER infusions. You may have been forcibly taken from them."

For a moment, there was no reaction from the younger man, then he sighed and his shoulders sagged. "I guess that's true. But, I'm not ready to talk with him yet. Or even those girls. I just—need some time to sort this out, first."

"...When you decide to talk with him, I'll go with you if you want," Angeal offered.

"Thanks," Genesis agreed with a small smile.

His older friend—and brother in all but blood—then went on with an anecdote about a silly new Cadet in the program, and the mood lightened for the rest of the meal. As they were rising to head out, Genesis saw Kariya leave with the two girls—and the man gave his hand a small flick towards the table as he caught Genesis' eye. Somehow, he felt like he should check the table. Making his way to that back corner while Angeal paid the bill (he'd left some of his money with him to cover his share), Genesis scanned it quickly...

And found that a photo had been left behind. It showed the two girls at a younger age and a woman with them who shared their traits (and his, by extension)—their mother. He picked it up and flipped it over to see two inscriptions on the back, written by two different people.

The first said, _Kariya, here's the update on our daughters, Shalua (13) and Shelke (8). I'm worried about the skills Shelke has been displaying. Could you please come check on her—before my time runs out?_ A notation in the second style of writing had been added, inserting the name '_Rui_' after Shelke's, and it had been done _very_ recently.

The second inscription said, _What 'skills'? No one's letting me go check on them, though, and Shalyn only has about a year left if we're lucky..._

Pursing his lips, Genesis realized there was no way this was accidental, so he pocketed the photo. Turks weren't so careless as to leave something like this behind, so Kariya had _meant_ for Genesis to find it—especially after that hand flick.

He then joined Angeal at the doors so they could head back to the Shinra building.

FoWD

Donnel sighed into his hands as he and Doriss sat quietly in her apartment after having moved back there. All she had really told him was that she had all of Doctor Crescent's files, not just on Auryn, but on several others as well. He finally asked her, "How did you even _get_ them?"

"By finding a way past their defenses. It was accidental, I assure you, but no Turk would just let an opportunity like that go. Though, if I tell you, you'll tell them so they close the hole, and I'm not about to do that when I can't protect Auryn properly without that data," she replied evenly.

The mix of confusion, worry, and amusement the words produced caused him to sigh, then give a short, wry chuckle. "Why are you trying so hard to protect someone who isn't your responsibility?"

"Why are you, to the point where some of your old slave training triggered?"

Her reply question was valid from her perspective. Up until Auryn had shown up, the only ones who knew the actual dynamic he had with the rest of the Turks had been Verdot, Vincent, and Lady Shinra. Verde knew now, as did Auryn. Since Verde was one of his true close friends, it hadn't bothered him to have the older man know it, and after Verde had spoken with Vincent, it had no longer been an issue for him. Since Doriss was also one of those he thought of as a true friend, it was fair to say he had never actually liked keeping his position from her. If she could keep Auryn's secrets—as she had apparently been doing since long before the incident which had brought her to Kariya's apartment—then she could keep his, as well.

"Because I'm one of the few who actually knows the severity of the situation," he said quietly.

"Isn't that abhorrently foolish of the Guards to hand to you when Verdot frequently orders you to tell him everything you know?"

The question made him look up to meet her gaze and say bluntly, "He's doing _exactly_ what he's supposed to be doing, with agreement from all parties. You keep thinking he's treating me poorly, but Doriss—I gave him permission to do it. Vincent and Lady Shinra are in agreement with that as well, and they know those terms as well as I do. I went into it fully aware of all of it."

It was amusing to see Doriss obviously surprised, but he could practically see the gears turning in her head as she gave a small frown and asked, "Are you really in agreement with that abuse, and if so, why?"

"Abuse?" Donnel blinked, then gave her a wry smile. "It looks worse than it really is, and honestly, what _he_ does to me is less painful than the memory wipes—or modifications—Vincent and Lady Shinra use on me. All of it is planned so the two sides can 'work together' when needed without President Shinra knowing they are. That's why I'm stuck in the middle and played off both sides like that. And Doriss, I've already had my memory wiped _three times_ just since Auryn came here, and only knew it was a wipe because another of the Guards told me. What I have right now, I still have because I'm _supposed_ to be able to share that part with Verdot. And Verdot has been avoiding asking me, so I'm pretty sure what he's gotten from you led him to think he doesn't _want_ real data he'll have to report to the President."

The words caused Doriss to tip her head to the side as her mind worked again, but she then sighed and rose, turning to face her balcony door. "And you were ordered at some point to make sure some information never came to light, hence your panic attack when you saw me with it. Is that right?"

"Basically."

"...I need some time to sort through everything you just said," she sighed after a pause, then turned back to him as he rose. "Donnel, I don't think you're actually aware of how much it hurts you to be treated the way you are by Verdot, reason or agreement aside. I don't think most of the Hounds notice it, either. But even though people like Anki and Balto don't really care, _they've_ noticed it, too—you're hurt by it, just not physically." She met his gaze. "And just the fact that he doesn't pull his punches makes me think he'd do to Auryn what he does to you, especially since he _knows_ it'll get him the answers he wants. I can't do that to Auryn. And I'd rather it wasn't happening to _you_, either."

Donnel gave her a faintly sad smile as he nodded. "I'll leave things as-is for now and see how it goes. Later, then." With that, he left the woman to her own devices.

FoWD

Morning saw Auryn sitting on the bed with Nina's head in his lap and Aeris sprawled on the far side of the small bed, against the wall. He was exhausted, but he'd also managed to sort out some things, allowing him to place Nina beside him, rather than right in his lap as he had been.

After seriously assessing every one of the situations where he now knew he 'could have' changed something, he'd realized nearly every one of them, he couldn't actually have changed his own actions. Even saying something like 'he could have changed his gender' didn't mean it would have mattered—he still behaved too much like a boy in his female form, so would more likely have been taken as a 'transgender', which probably would have set Tseng off as bad or worse than what he'd gotten. Or anyone else he could have done such a thing with. It may have helped in a few cases, but then if those same people had realized later he wasn't actually a woman, that level of lie, of betrayal...He'd have definitely gotten a worse result, even if it had happened later.

Most other situations where things went sour, notably anything where the Turks had tortured and/or killed him, had only actually had three options: betray one or a couple with a possible death, sacrifice most of them, or let them all die. Even if his betrayal of one or a couple had led to his torture, they had also resulted in the least possible deaths. If he hadn't betrayed those couple, they would have been fine, just to find all the others dead. And if he'd just done nothing at all, ran away like a coward, either the larger group would have died, or both the single or couple _and_ the larger group would have died. No matter which one he picked, things would have gone south fast, and the best result he could have hoped for was the one which had led to his own death.

As sad as it was, Minerva was right—he couldn't have made any other choice, and his choice had been the right one.

It had taken a long time and a lot of effort to go through every one of those incidences and assess them. They had been so painful, no matter what he now knew about them, and they had brought back so many feelings he hadn't wanted to bring so close to his awareness for the time it had taken.

He felt _raw_.

Every sound, every movement, every new thought, the incremental increases in the light around him—it all chaffed and _hurt_. He'd once read a psychology paper which showed how emotional pain was felt by the heart in the same way as physical pain, and he had never really taken it seriously before, but now...His heart _physically_ hurt, like it was bruised and cut all over, even though he knew the only possible cause was his emotional state. He previously hadn't been sane enough to be aware of the pain, or of the source and reason of it, and hadn't actually put so much stock in emotional abuse.

He'd never make that mistake again—emotional abuse was just the same as physical to the one experiencing it.

At times, he wondered if sanity was actually all it was cracked up to be.

But regardless of whether it was or not, he still needed to detach from Nina enough to leave her with Aeris while he went back to the Shinra building with Tseng.

Speaking of Tseng, the man's soft voice said from the door, "So you've managed to set Nina down already. I'm impressed." A look at the Wutain showed Auryn how he'd taken his hair down and was only dressed in his pants and white shirt, which was un-tucked and only half-buttoned. The normally strict, immaculate man he was used to seeing was now showing himself in a completely relaxed way—this truly was 'home' to Tseng, more than even the Shinra building apartment he lived in most of the time.

"I had to acknowledge how many things I actually would never have changed, no matter what I did or didn't know about anyone," the blond sighed faintly.

"Even things which had led to you being hurt or killed?" the Wutain asked in mild surprise.

"...I was only assessing certain situations...mostly ones directly involving the Turks. My choices were limited to three of them, all of those bad. I'd started thinking 'if I'd only known this was the trigger, I could have avoided it'...Only, by reassessing those situations, they hadn't changed, and my choice would still have been the same, even knowing what the result would be," Auryn replied tiredly.

Tseng was quiet for a minute, then asked, "And how are you holding up after such a painful trip down memory lane?"

"I feel like I've been beaten for hours by a meat tenderizer, then tossed in a meat grinder and my remains left to rot," the blond replied sardonically.

Raising a brow, the other man asked, "But you haven't had, and aren't having, a panic attack after all that?"

His shoulders sagged and he replied, "I don't have the energy for that. Also..."

"...Also?"

"...Every time I realized I wouldn't have changed my actions, even knowing the result, the more I found the memory wasn't—terrifying anymore. It was more like...acceptance. Awareness. And with each one which wasn't terrifying anymore, I moved further away from panic. It still hurts...It still has pain attached to it, but not in the same way or for the same reasons. I'm still not ready to detach from Nina, though."

After a long silence, the Wutain asked, "What do you think is still holding you back from that?"

With a faint sigh, the blond admitted, "The thought that all the people I cared so much about hadn't returned it."

"Because they had tortured you?" was Tseng's immediate and tired reply—but when Auryn shook his head, he had to stare in surprise.

"In a way, that's some of it, but no. After how many times I've re-met those people, and it took until now, when I'm so broken everyone pities me, I—why did I never really know anything about them, about any of you, until now? Why did no one ever tell me much of anything about their pasts, even though they practically demanded to know mine...? Why was that favor never returned if I really had been their friend, someone they trusted, as well? Or was I just never really someone they trusted or cared about?" As much as Kariya had talked with him about the point already, his own experiences had been the reverse of what the older man had offered—being close to someone normally included knowing about their pasts, even if it came in little bits over time.

The Turk looked at him oddly for a minute, seeing tears in his eyes which he managed to hold back. Then, he said, "That 'sharing' sometimes happens. It's a lot more likely when you're all still kids and grew up together for most, or all, of your lives. Kids don't have much to hide as a rule, and even then, some of them have things they want to hide. Sometimes, it's because of shame, sometimes because it just doesn't matter that much to them, so they don't think it's worth sharing or that anyone would want to know.

"But, when you're an adult, things are different and you start to want to protect people, especially ones you care about, from unnecessary pain. Most of the Turks have very painful pasts, and would rather not burden the people they care about with those pasts. Some take it all as 'just data' and it has relatively little effect on them—notably, Lakis and Ansha seem to do that—but the rest of us take it personally if one of our family tells us about their suffering. So, we normally don't."

Auryn's brow furrowed in confusion as he looked up and asked, "What?"

"Like you did earlier, almost not telling Aeris something she needed to know because you wanted to spare her the pain of it," he replied.

The blond's golden eyes widened in shock for a moment before he—sort of sagged backwards, landing with his shoulders and head on Aeris' back and causing her to wake with a yelp.

Tseng moved over in alarm to check on him, but Aeris groaned and said, "Thanks, Tseng. You just made him catatonic with shock until he finishes processing that."

"Should I call for Doctor Crescent?" he asked, even more alarmed.

"No. We can still hear some of the—static, I guess—from him that we do from one another, so he's not actually in danger right now," she sighed. "He just needs some time. That means you'll have to tell my moms to bring food for Nina and me up here, and to keep some warm for him when he's ready to come back to reality again."

"...How long do you think it'll take?" he asked, forcibly relaxing himself at her assurance.

"Maybe...A couple hours, by his track record so far?" she mused. "I don't think he'll be any later than noon."

The Wutain eyed her for a minute as she shuffled slightly and settled, into what he assumed was a more comfortable position, then agreed, "All right. I'll be back soon, then." She gave him a small wave as he left the room.


	23. 22-Energy Bonds

**A/N:** For the record, I described a fairly common actual method of cutting ties (the one with the knife) and grounding/cleansing, though normally, you'd use 'light/pure' energy, 'earth' energy, or draw energy from your own personal core for the latter, rather than what Ed/Auryn does.

Energy Bonds

It was mid-morning when Auryn blinked suddenly and tipped his head to stare at a grinning Nina who was sitting on his belly. "Good morning, Little Big Brother!" she said happily, seeing him awake, and Alexander barked from behind her as his tail started thumping rapidly on the floor. From behind Auryn, he heard a familiar young woman's giggle as he felt the object his head lay on vibrating with the sound.

"So, if you're aware again, do you think I can get up now?" Aeris asked in amusement from the same direction as the giggling.

"...Why didn't you just get up anyway, Aeris?" he asked her tiredly.

"Because you tied your energy to Minerva through me," she said dryly. "Unless you remove that, I'm pinned down."

"Oh, for—!" he muttered in self-disgust, then closed his eyes to search for the energy pathways leading both to Aeris and to Nina. Oddly, they were something like a security blanket to him, but—he wasn't a small child who needed something like that to hold on to. And now, he was getting tired of feeling so weak he couldn't let go of his 'security blanket'. It was getting ridiculous to him that not only was he apparently not able to let go of one, he'd added a _second_.

So, with that in mind, he very deliberately sought out the energy pathways, found the anchoring arrays, and dismantled them. It was slow going at first, and when he was about half-way done, he almost stopped in fear of what would happen if he detached those energies from himself. Pushing past the fear, he kept working—and the rest unraveled shockingly quickly, making him draw in a sudden, surprised, deep breath.

His whole body _relaxed_ in the next moment, and he became oddly lethargic. He'd never really felt the term 'limp as a wet noodle' even made sense before, but right then, he actually felt it was an apt description of his own body. Even twitching a finger was an effort. Opening his eyes? That wasn't happening anytime soon. What had he just done to himself?

"That felt weird!" Nina announced in a complaining tone.

"It did, didn't it?" Aeris agreed, sounding surprised.

"Come on, open your eyes, Little Big Brother!" Nina then addressed him.

At the request, Auryn tried to move, and still got the same result—it wasn't happening. _:What just happened to me?:_ he asked Minerva warily.

_:You detached a few arrays too many, my Ancient Sentinel,:_ she replied in a dry tone. _:In your attempt to break the bonds you had formed to my Budling and my Beloved Child, the arrays you chose to dismantle were too wide-ranging, and rather than severing only the bonds you had formed with them, you also dismantled some of the sub-arrays allowing your own energy to flow properly within you. My Energy Healer will be able to correct that for you. I have alerted her, and she shall join you momentarily.:_

_:...I dismantled some of my own energy distribution arrays?:_ he asked in confusion.

With a faint, amused sigh, the entity explained, _:Bonds form between people merely by their presence in your life. Those bonds also include energy bonds. They are not the sort you formed with my Budling, or with my Beloved Child a short time ago, but they are a bond, nonetheless. You have them with many others as well, should you search for them. All living beings have energy flows which reach out to others, as it was intended to give them empathy for one another. By extension, those bonds are deeply integrated into the energy flows of one's body, otherwise those same energies could not be processed by the body, and would interfere with its normal functions. By so completely severing your bonds to these two, you also severed some of your own energy flows, because you did not account for the natural bonds between people.:_

"I have never known a Cetra to be so high-maintenance before," Ifalna's amused voice cut into his shocked assessment of Minerva's words. He knew she was speaking to him, because both Aeris and Nina were giggling at the time. A hand—likely hers—rested on his forehead and energy began flowing through his body again, similarly to the day before. That time, he turned his sight inward to watch which arrays re-formed with her coaxing, and felt strength returning to his body as those arrays re-formed.

It was odd to see them. He'd known arrays also held human bodies together, but to see them, and see gaps, and see the gaps being filled in, was both awe-inspiring and surreal. It also seemed making a human body function took multitudes more arrays than even a Materia as complex as Zirconaide's, White, or Black. No wonder it was impossible to raise the dead. But that aside, he realized Ifalna was indeed putting back energy assimilation and coordination arrays—and that he had many more bonds than he'd ever thought possible.

There were the ones to Ifalna, Elmyra, and Tseng, and even a faint one to Gast. There was one with Felic—Percia, and one with Shears. Why were they so strong? He'd barely seen them here! There were ones to all the Turks he'd met, the ones to new Turks, like Verde, weaker than ones to Turks he'd known a long time, like Kariya. There were ones to Lady Shinra and Lucrecia. There were actually faint ones to all the Shinra executives, but Reeve's and Rufus'—and Scarlet's, to his surprise—were the strongest ones. Several SOLDIERs had ties to him, many very weak, but notably, Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth, Kunzel, and Zack had fairly strong bonds, though he'd only met Genesis and Sephiroth so far, and briefly.

At that point, he realized why those bonds were stronger. He may not have met them all here yet, but he'd known them since the first dimension, and in most successive ones. In other words, the bonds carried over. And most of them were tainted by black energy which actually made him cringe to look at too closely. Shadow energy and what he was seeing were two very different things, and even 'death' energy, which also showed as black, didn't look anything like the energy in those bonds.

Blinking, he asked Minerva, _:Is that black stuff attached to the bonds the reason everything is so painful?:_

She took a moment to peer at them through his eyes, then hummed in agreement and said, _:It seems a self-cleansing and general detachment of those bonds will do you well.:_

_:Didn't you just say I'm supposed to have them?:_ he mentally scowled at her. Ifalna was almost done with the missing arrays, too.

_:I informed you that you had destroyed arrays necessary to your functionality, and that you will naturally form bonds with those around you,:_ she replied in dry amusement. _:It is, in fact, expected that healthy minds must at times sever those bonds to cleanse, and allow, even encourage, them to re-form with those they wish to have one with. It is possible to sever the bond without damaging your own functionality arrays, and a person need not know about the arrays to do so. In your case, my Ancient Sentinel, I would like you to choose some to sever with both most common methods, as I wish you to know both. The one which finds and removes the anchoring arrays will take longer than the other, so you may find yourself needing to use the rapid one at some point.:_

_:Why would I need to use the rapid one?:_ he mentally blinked in surprise.

_:It will prevent most mind-controlling effects from functioning fully, if at all,:_ she answered plainly. _:If they, or their spell, has no bond to you, they, or it, cannot influence you.:_

Ifalna finished with the arrays just then, so he suddenly sat up in shocked surprise, eyes open as he rapidly blinked at the startled woman—and instinctively caught Nina as she fell over backwards from her perch with a little yip. "Looks like you're back with us now, Auryn," the older woman said in faint amusement.

"Do you know about severing the bonds so things like Manipulate won't work on you?" he demanded suddenly.

"Minerva generally shares that with us at some point between Aeris' age and yours," Ifalna replied. "Assuming the person is capable of grasping the data, that is. In your case, you would never have believed such bonds even existed until now, would you?"

He blinked, then looked away with a small nod. "Until I shut down my own energy flows and watched you fix that—and went looking for the other bonds I turned out to have—I wouldn't have believed such a thing was possible."

"Apparently, she's going to teach you personally, because there's another method the rest of us don't need to know," the woman informed him. "I told her to wait until you'd eaten, so that's the next thing on your to-do list."

The blond blinked again, but before he could reply, his stomach rumbled hungrily, making him blush as Aeris and Nina giggled again and Ifalna gave him an amused smile. "Okay, food first," Auryn agreed.

He then rose, set Nina on her feet on the floor, and turned towards the door, the girl trotting along beside him as Alexander followed them, tail still wagging happily. He didn't see the shocked expressions Aeris and Ifalna shared before they followed him, Nina, and Alexander. As he and Nina came down the stairs, however, he saw the shocked expressions Elmyra, Gast, and Tseng wore, making him pause and look at them in wary confusion.

A moment later, Gast turned to Elmyra and said, "All right, then, I suppose you should pull out Auryn's meal so he can eat."

With a small start, she looked at him, then blinked and smiled. "That's right!" At the cheerful exclamation, Tseng turned to her as well, and the tension bled out of the room. "Come sit down, Auryn! I kept some breakfast for you so you'd have something as soon as you were ready for it."

"Um..." Auryn began as he moved over and sat. Nina hopped into the seat which would put her between him and Tseng, and the Wutain reached over to ruffle her hair with a smile.

Gast looked at him and said bluntly, "I don't know how much about the human psyche you've studied, but _my_ studies have shown normalcy is what people who have suffered most need in order to return to it. So, things are now more normal than they were, and should be treated as such, don't you think?" The man smiled at the last.

Suddenly, Auryn relaxed again. It wasn't like when he'd severed some of his own energy flow, it was just a release of tension he hadn't been aware he'd had before then. And he suddenly also realized why he'd appreciated Doriss', Genesis', and Scarlet's company here—they hadn't treated him with kid gloves or caution, but like a normal person. And most of the time, Kariya wasn't too bad, but he sometimes became over-protective. Nina also seemed completely inclined to treat him like normal, and Gast had just shown he would, as well. If the others were taking their cues from him, they wouldn't try to treat him like he would break, either.

But why the sudden—?

He cut off his own thought as he looked over at Nina—who was babbling to Tseng about the flowers she'd grown earlier the day before while he listened with interest—and realized _he had put her down_. Completely.

Normal. It was more normal now than it had been, so they would treat it like it was completely normal—because it _was_.

When Elmyra put his plate of food on the table in front of him, he looked back at her and said a quiet thanks, then started eating. Hash browns, some bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. Normal.

Auryn suddenly felt very thankful for 'normal'.

He was still exhausted, but he knew cutting those—rotting?—bonds couldn't really be put off, and Minerva was patiently hovering at the back of his mind, waiting for him to finish eating and find a place to learn the lessons she wanted to give him. Tseng and Aeris had gone outside with Nina by then, Alexander always following the girl, Gast—had started on the dishes—and Ifalna and Elmyra were gathering laundry, so he was on his own. In a way, that was a relief, since it meant they all currently trusted he wouldn't end up in a panic or anything.

Stepping outside, he saw Shears and his men gathered in a clear space in front of the house, surrounding Percia and a map as they talked about people going to various Sectors. The new Turk gave him an absent wave, as did Shears, so he returned it, then faced the gardens around the home. There were notably two places in it where sun shone directly on the ground through gaps in the Plate, and those were places where Aeris had planted things like thyme, which thrived by being walked—or sat, or whatever—on. As such, he found one of those patches of sun to lay down in and turned his mind to Minerva, letting her know he was ready.

In response, she said, _:Separate the various bonds into two groups, the ones most damaged and the ones least damaged. They will not be equal in either size or number, so do not attempt to make them so.:_

Speaking of the size of them, he had thought about that somewhat when he'd assessed how prominent they were, but now, he was realizing some of the most prominent were nearly as large as he was, and there was literally no space for them all close around him. Most of those were also the most damaged ones.

He wasn't really sure how to go about sorting them into sets, so Minerva showed him something like as though he was sorting through a bundle of string with his own two hands and parting them by somewhat unwinding them. Imagining something similar to a hand moving the energy bands apart caused the effect he needed so he could push all the most damaged ones to one side and cluster the least damaged ones on the other. The 'side' which was 'least damaged' amounted to a very small space taking up less than a third of that side of his body—all the rest went to the 'most damaged' all around him, leaving only a small space between the two.

_:What now?:_ he asked tentatively.

She assessed his work, then gave him a sensation of approval. Indicating the larger set, she said, _:These ones, we shall sever by erasing the appropriate arrays. First, find their anchor points, then move outward from them along the bonds some—you should find another set of arrays not far from the anchor points.:_

_:All of them at once?:_ he asked in shock.

_:You know very well how capable the human mind is, my Ancient Sentinel,:_ she replied in a rather dry tone. _:This is a simple task only made daunting by unfamiliarity.:_

Admittedly, she had a point, so he began focusing on the bonds and finding their anchor points. To his surprise, it wasn't very difficult to find all of them, and they even rearranged themselves so he could work with them more easily and keep better track of them. The mind was truly an amazing thing. Once he'd found them all, he scanned along them carefully, moving his mental gaze away from his body slowly. It only took a short distance and time to find another set of arrays—which were _also_ anchoring arrays, but coming from the other person, rather than himself.

_:Now, erase those arrays. Thoroughly,:_ she told him. _:Doing so will sever the bond.:_

It was shockingly simple to erase the arrays, and sure enough, those bonds all broke off—but they left behind a ragged, dark mess. _:What now?:_

_:It has yet to be cleansed; however, that is best done once the other set has been severed. Once the cleansing has been done, we shall return to this set to properly clear the lingering 'other' energy and restore your energies to their natural state,:_ Minerva replied. _:As such, we now move to the other set for the method which is faster and does not require array knowledge. First, gather all of the bonds not severed and 'cut' them off.:_ With the words, she showed him a burning blade cutting through the bonds.

_:Why a _burning_ blade?:_ he asked in confusion.

_:Why cauterize a wound?:_ she asked in reply.

As he interpreted that to mean the 'burning' blade would seal the ends of the energy bonds so they couldn't reattach to one another—something they could do as long as their anchoring arrays were there—he followed the example given and gathered and cut the bonds with a burning blade. It effectively left him with the same mess as the larger portion had left, but more organized. When Minerva showed him the arrays for Cleanse sending energy through his body in a specific order on a specific path, he noted how some arrays had been modified for that purpose.

Using the new array setup, he called on the abilities of Cleanse, and watched with interest as it traveled up one leg, up that half of his torso, down—and back up—his arm, up that side of his neck, and into his head. It circled there for a bit, then started the trip down the other half of his body, neck, arm, torso, and leg. All the way through its course, it had carried with it the dark energy causing him harm, and when it returned to the array, the energy still flowing through his body expanded outward, forcing all of the darkness attached to the energy bonds right outside his personal space and away from the damaged ends of the now-sheared-off bonds. To finish up, the Cleanse energy dissipated the dark energy, then vanished, itself.

_:That could have been done by calling on Lifestream energy to perform the same action, follow the same routes as this did,:_ Minerva told him. _:In this, however, the method acts the same either way, and you are most comfortable knowing the actual instructions. It need not be done every time you sever bonds, only when you have time and a wish to be thorough—Cleansing in this way is not intended for battle. Now, to finish with the remaining energies.:_

She paused for a moment, and directed him first to the ones he had burnt off with the image of the burning blade. They were literal segments of still-whole energy, not a ragged mess, so she said, _:Cut those off the same way as you first severed them, but immediately next to your body. If you wish, allow the flames to burn the excess, or simply send the excess away from you so it may dissipate naturally, as it will do so with no anchor on either side.:_

For a moment, Auryn paused, then followed the instructions, wondering if Genesis' fascination with fire actually helped him to sever his bonds every time he used it, and was informed that only happened when he decided to go to the extreme of sending the flames across his whole body. Since Auryn wasn't so fanatical about fire, however, he simply caught the loose pieces after they were severed (he found they had been cut off right at the arrays on his side they had anchored to) and tossed them away from his body. They left his 'sight' after a fairly short time.

Minerva then directed him to the much more ragged ends of the other, much larger set, which were in complete disarray. _:This is why you must know both methods—this one takes much more time to restore to order than the other, and is only to be used when you have time to do so as a result.:_

_:What happens if I don't clean it up after severing them?:_ the blond teen asked curiously.

_:Then, many bits of energy shall be attracted to them and bond themselves there—a broken or damaged bond belonging to another, the energy within the toxin produced by the devices draining my energy, even stray spell energy, or Eidolon energy. It would be much like dragging that cleaning device—:_ (She showed him an image of a broom.) _:—through wet, toxic sludge. It would make you as ill as you are now, or worse, if left unattended for too long, my Ancient Sentinel. Now, to repair this.:_

_:How do I do that when it's such a mess?:_ he asked apprehensively.

_:Look down to the arrays in your body where they anchor.:_ He followed Minerva's instruction, and saw they were still tied to those arrays—the same ones he couldn't erase. She said, _:You are correct to say you cannot erase them. However, you are able to modify them slightly, each one at a time. Make this adjustment—:_ (She showed him a very small set of coding changes to one line of instruction on the first array she directed him to.) _:—to allow them to release the energy yet attached to them, then wait until all bits of energy have detached from the array. As soon as you release your attention from the array, the original instruction shall re-assert itself. Repeat that process with every array the energy is attached to. And, as you did with the first set, push the excess energy away from you.:_

Auryn followed the instruction, only to find he had to wait quite awhile for all the bits of energy to detach from the array. He could somewhat speed it up by plucking and tossing bits of it away, but doing so felt a lot like plucking single hairs off his head in an attempt to make himself bald—it would take forever. He now realized why he needed the 'fast method', as it was clear this one was meant to be used only rarely. Likely, only in a situation like his, in fact, where he had to be very, very thorough. As such, he shuffled his position in his patch of sun to be more comfortable and settled in to wait for the energy bits to break off every single array they were attached to. He had no idea how long it took, but by the time he was done—to a sense of pride and happiness from Minerva—he was weary to the bone.

Opening his eyes, he blinked up at the people who had gathered around him—Nina was playing with Alexander near his feet, Aeris sat at his head as she wove a flower crown, Tseng sat to one side of him in full uniform, and Percia sat to the other.

"Oh, so have you finally finished whatever you were doing?" Tseng asked in mild amusement.

"Yeah," Auryn agreed, then yawned.

"How do you feel now?" Aeris asked curiously.

The blond had to pause to assess that, then replied, "Even more exhausted than I was this morning. Less ragged and raw."

"Good!" she smiled, then looked up at Tseng. "I think you'll need to stay here one more night—unless you plan to _carry_ him back to the Shinra building?"

Making a sour face, Tseng replied, "You say that like I'm in a hurry to go back, Sister-Mine."

She giggled. "Of course not! But, he may be, or someone there will be."

"If I haven't heard from either Vincent or Doriss yet, it means no one's worried yet. In Doriss' case, though, I'm pretty sure she's not worried because Kariya's not worried. Or any of the other Guards, for that matter. Or, with her track record lately, she already knows where he is and knows he's safe," the Wutain Turk replied dryly.

"Could she really?" Aeris asked in alarm.

"Even if she _did_, she's apparently really protective of him and wouldn't willingly or knowingly put him in any danger," Percia snorted. When the other two stared at her in surprise and Auryn closed his eyes with a faint groan, the eighteen-year-old grinned and said, "We have a rumor going around the Hounds that she's like a mother lion protecting her cub with him. I'm pretty sure Balto wouldn't start a rumor like that unless there was more truth than not to it, and it's probably not a bad thing."

Tseng held his hand to his face as he said in exasperation, "That's probably true. And because he trusts you, Aeris, I don't think Doriss would willingly take you from him, knowing what he's like."

"...Huh," the fifteen-year-old blinked, looking between the two Turks. She then smiled and said, "Then, you all get to stay another night."

"Yay! Little Big Brother and Big Brother Tiger get to stay longer!" Nina cheered from a couple feet away. A moment later, Auryn made an 'oof' sound as she dropped her full weight onto his belly as she giggled madly, then she curled up there, and Alexander quickly joined them, shoving himself against Auryn's side as the three sitting around him exclaimed about the Bandersnatch's intrusion. Nina then looked up at Percia and announced, "You're Big Sister Gaia!"

"...I'm what?" Percia asked blankly.

"She said you're her 'earth cham-pi-on'! So, you protect her. You protect the Planet. That's what you _always_ do. So, you're part of the Planet, and Big Sister Gaia!" Nina explained, and Aeris and Tseng both chuckled at Percia's perplexed expression.

"Well, that's one way of putting it, I suppose," Aeris agreed.

"...Who's the 'she' who told her that, and what does it mean?" Percia asked curiously.

Shaking her head, Aeris replied, "I think Auryn is the only one who knows why Minerva calls you that, and Minerva is—this planet's sentience. And it's 'Earthen Champion', by the way."

"Auryn?" Percia asked. He just gave a dismissing wave with his hand, so she sighed. "Whatever."


	24. 23-Questions

Questions

Morning felt like it had come far too soon for Auryn, but he pushed himself up to look out the window, leaving Aeris and Nina curled up together in the bed, still sleeping. It only took him a quick look to know Percia and her new 'informants' had either left very early in the morning or hadn't stayed in the first place—by the time supper the day before had come around, he'd been falling asleep in it, so had gone right to bed, not knowing when she'd left as a result. In some ways, being so drained was a good thing—his emotional spectrum was much smaller and he was less likely to panic over small things—but in other ways, it was a very bad one—if he _did_ panic, the only way to bring him out of it would be to knock him out.

As much as he could say he felt a lot better in a lot of ways, he was no fool. He was nothing like 'fixed', and there was a good chance it would still be months before the panic attacks would stop, let alone all the _other_ things wrong with him. And that was just the mental and emotional ones. It was clear most of the physical ones couldn't be 'fixed', because they couldn't just be undone, even if they _could_ be 'managed' to a less harmful state. By what both Lucrecia and Gast had said, it would take time to work with them, and there may be some hits and misses along the way. Those same things had some influence over his emotional and mental state, so it was unlikely they would just stop completely, even if they had been mostly mitigated.

Probably the thing he most appreciated right then was the clarity of mind he'd gotten back over the last couple of days.

"You're certainly an early riser, aren't you, Auryn?" Tseng's amused voice asked from the door to the room.

"At the moment, apparently," he agreed, giving his head a small shake.

Even seeing the man in so relaxed of a setting didn't do much for the fear he still felt around him. Panic was one thing—apparently, he'd reached the threshold on that and couldn't be pushed to panic just by his presence anymore—but too many bad memories were grounded in the Wutain for him to so easily release a general sense of fear and a desire to be away from him. It had been easier to handle while he'd had Nina to ground him, quite literally. Now that he'd released those bonds and set her down, his reactions and caution had returned largely to their normal state.

"...You're still afraid of me, aren't you?" the man asked sadly.

"I know that bothers you, but really—if, say, Vincent, or someone you were sure was him, had tortured you many hundreds of times, would _you_ actually be able to trust him in a few weeks?" Auryn asked in mild annoyance, not quite able to stop a slight cringe.

Tseng was silent for a minute before saying, "As hard as it is for me to wrap my mind around the very idea, I would have to say I know it wouldn't be so easy. My _mind_ knows that, but apparently, my emotions aren't getting the memo." At the wry amusement in his tone, Auryn had to give a faint, short chuckle. "...Maybe I shouldn't be asking this, but...In the first one, what was I to you? What were you to me?"

Shaking his head, the blond replied, "We never actually defined it. You—that you, anyway—may have had something in mind, but the only things I knew then were that we were never anything like brothers to one another and you went off the deep end any time I got hurt. Some of my other bonds were a lot more clearly defined, but...even though we had no name for it, ours then was no less deep. To lose it...to lose all of them...the way I did...I actually had to die twice before I realized something was very wrong because my mind couldn't process the loss."

"You just 'died'?" Tseng asked with a slightly raised brow, though his voice sounded a little winded.

With a faint quirk of the lips, Auryn asked, "How do you think the Hounds would react to someone they didn't know calling them from Icicle Inn, asking—as a Turk—to be picked up?" The Wutain blanched as his eyes widened. "Or how about how they—or the Guards for that matter—would react to a complete stranger somehow having gotten into the rooms hidden in...I guess Ve—rdot uses it...Anyway, someone having gotten right into the rooms hidden in his office?" At that, Tseng looked faintly ill. "Those were my first two experiences after the one which had made them all—you all—my family, in whatever ways it happened to be."

After a long silence as the man struggled to get control of himself, he asked tentatively, "Why do your locations seem to change each time? Shouldn't they all start in the same place?"

Shaking his head with a faint sigh, the younger of them answered, "Because every time I died—in whatever way—I would reappear in the same location I had died in, but back at the...time they were set to begin at. It meant whatever had ended my life in the previous one wasn't there to end it when I started the next, but disorientation was a huge downside to it until I got used to it."

A frown marred the Wutain's face, but before he could speak, Aeris' familiar voice asked with a yawn, "So what's...the time you kept appearing at?" A look showed her sitting up, but Nina was still sound asleep.

"Aeris—" Tseng began.

"It's a logical question, isn't it?" she asked in reply, meeting his gaze, then Auryn's. "Because if it's always the same date and time, maybe there's something special about it which would tell us more about what's going on."

The blond's shoulders lifted in a shrug and he said, "I've never been sure of the exact hour or minute—usually sometime not too long after noon, maybe one or one thirty. But it's always been on July sixth of this year."

With a rapid blink, Tseng said, "That's not too long before we found you..."

"No, it's not," the younger man agreed with a faint sigh.

"I still can't grasp why your starting location would be different, though."

"...It has something to do with the 'memory' function of the whole system, as far as I can tell."

"It just picks and chooses to remember some final data, but not all of it?" the Wutain asked incredulously.

Shaking his head, Auryn replied, "Not really, no. Some data is easier for it to hold, while other data needs to revert, while still more can be easily reversed. Apparently the last still leaves traceable signs, but...It sort of tries to undo what it can, and putting me back in the first location I appeared in would often have meant dropping me on the other side of the Planet, with different gear, clothing, _injuries_, than I'd last had when I died. It's even possible the 'memory' wasn't able to _cause_ damage in itself, so didn't revert me to that state because it would have meant causing me damage as much as undoing it. The way it's been doing it is the one which requires the least amount of effort and intervention."

There was a long moment of silence before Aeris asked, "Did you just say you know you were injured at the time you keep being reset to, the very first time it happened?"

"...It's pretty hard to forget having been speared to a sheet of concrete with a piece of rebar..." the blond replied, leaning his head against the window. That felt like so long ago, but he still remembered it, though he mostly remembered it because of how soon before then his brother had sacrificed himself to return his arm to him. At this point, though, saying that wasn't something he could do.

Silence fell for a few minutes, then Tseng sighed and asked, "So, after breakfast, will you be ready to head back to Headquarters?"

Auryn was silent for a minute, then released a sigh of his own and said, "As much as I'd rather just stay here, I could probably manage going back then."

"All right," he agreed, then left the room.

"Go get cleaned up while you can," Aeris told him, motioning him towards the door to the room.

He blinked at her, then went to the bathroom to have a bath as part of his morning clean-up that day.

FoWD

Genesis paused outside Scarlet's office just before stepping inside. It was noon on one of their usual lunch 'dates' a few days after he'd found out about his possible family, so it wasn't either unusual or unexpected for him to be there. However, ever since having seen Kariya and the two girls at the restaurant (and having found the photo), he almost felt like a stranger in his own skin, and wondered if he was _ready_ to talk with her about it—she'd realize something was wrong and call him on it. Finally, after a few minutes, he opened the door and looked in—to see Scarlet nowhere to be found while Doriss and Eonna sat quietly, exchanging notes as they apparently worked on a case (two different cases?).

"I thought work was off-limits here?" he asked the two women in amusement.

"Battle lines, not work," Doriss replied absently. "Since Scarlet's not here to tattle on us, we're getting in some quality time."

"...I hate to break it to you, but she wouldn't tattle on you, anyway, if you just asked her not to," the red haired man replied dryly.

"Better to be safe than sorry, especially given the nature of this one," Eonna said that time. "She can't tell what she doesn't know, and if she doesn't know, she won't be in danger if _we_ ever get caught."

"But _I'm_ allowed to know?" he asked in amusement. "Hypocrites."

"_You_ haven't got a clue what we're working on, anyway," the blond Turk snorted. She then suddenly looked up at him quizzically and asked, "What's wrong?" Eonna paused what she was doing to look up in confusion at the two.

First, Genesis blinked, but then he tipped his head to the side and returned, "I could ask the same of you if I wasn't aware of that incident with Donnel."

"What incident?" Eonna asked in alarm.

"He hit panic mode and reverted to his old slave training, combat form," Doriss told the other woman, who blanched. "But we worked that out, so no, that's not what's on my mind. You, on the other hand, had no 'incidences' to be upsetting you in the first place. And if you think we didn't realize you were standing outside the door for almost five minutes, you're underestimating us."

With a long sigh, the red haired man shrugged and said, "I guess I can't do worse than the two of you." He then drew the photo and offered it to Doriss, who took it with a faint frown—then her brow rose and she flipped it over. "So?" he asked after she'd had a bit of time to read the back. No one noticed Scarlet in the doorway.

"So, where did you get it?" Doriss asked—and offered it to Eonna, who took it and promptly blinked in shock.

"Would you believe me if I said Kariya left it on a restaurant table for me to find?" he asked in a dry tone.

"_Kariya_ left it?" Eonna asked in surprise. "I thought he'd been told not to do something so reckless."

Doriss looked up at her with a raised brow as she asked, "Really? You honestly think a guy who obviously has a daddy complex _wouldn't_ try to reconnect with a son he'd thought was dead until now?"

Genesis sagged into the nearest seat in shock as Eonna's eyes widened and she asked in something like horror, "How do you know that?"

The blond woman's brow quirked and she replied, "I'm not supposed to, I know. Hence why Donnel went into panic mode." Her gaze then went to Genesis as she said, "You, Angeal, and Sephiroth were all the prototypes of something called the Jenova Project. The difference with _you_ is that you were actually taken away from your family and they returned 'your' remains to them because your father was an anti-Shinra terrorist at the time, and they didn't want him to turn their experimental prototype on them. Telling them you were dead and putting you with allies was the better option. Based on the files I have, your mother never recovered and effectively willed herself to death—she died the same month her older daughter turned fourteen and would be able to take care of her younger sister."

After a pause while the red haired SOLDIER sat in stunned silence, Eonna asked, "So, this photo really is of his mother and sisters?"

"That's right," Doriss agreed. "There's more to it, but I'm not a scientist, so I can't fill that in for Genesis—I'd probably just make a mess of it. His family situation is pretty clear, though, so..." She paused, then looked at the man and said bluntly, "Since Kariya's trying to give you a heads-up—here's your heads-up. Deal with it, because I think you'll break your father if you aren't prepared to at least _try_ to get to know him."

"But...He...We..." Genesis found he couldn't actually form a coherent sentence, leaving both Doriss and Eonna puzzled.

It was Scarlet who solved the problem by walking up behind his chair so she could wrap her arms around Genesis' shoulders from behind to hug him. "If you're worried about the 'battle lines', don't be, my Magic Poet," she told him, resting her cheek on his head. "He'd hardly be trying to reconnect with you if he particularly cared about them. And I can tell you from what I know about him—he's not going to expect you to be all father-and-son with him right away. He'll let you take the time you need to decide if this is a family you want."

"But—why couldn't my mother have raised me? It's pretty obvious he wasn't at home much..." the red haired man murmured, leaning his head back against her.

"Do you know _anything_ about the Jenova Project?" she asked in faint amusement.

"Do _you_?" Doriss asked Scarlet with a raised brow.

"_I_ have to sit through board meetings with Hojo on a fairly frequent basis," Scarlet smirked. "It pays to pay at least _some_ attention to my competition for funding. So, what I know is that Jenova is a 'specimen' Hojo is sure is the remains of one of the Cetra—or so he claims. The project prototypes were infused with Jenova's cells from birth or before then, but Hojo and Hollander were using differing methods and different cell samples. That was back when Gast ditched Shinra and Hojo and Hollander were competing for head of the Science Department in his place, and it was Hojo's prototype, Project S—for Sephiroth—which showed the most promise sooner. That's why Hojo controls the SOLDIER infusions, which all also have J-cells in them."

"What are your thoughts on the Jenova Project?" Eonna asked suddenly, gaze on Scarlet thoughtfully.

"Mine?" she asked in mild surprise. When the dark haired woman gave a small nod, Scarlet shrugged and answered, "I've encountered 'Jenova' before. Frankly, I think 'she's' more of a parasite than anything, but as long as it's not hurting Genesis, I'm not going to make a big stink about it. The President is all on-board for it, so I wouldn't be able to put a stop to it, and because I'm not a biologist or geneticist, I can't offer anything to replace it with. Better not to rock the boat at this point."

"What if he _was_ being hurt by it?" Doriss asked shrewdly.

"Am I?" Genesis asked in alarm.

"Apparently, yes. Like I said, though—I'm not a scientist, so I'm not going to try to explain it. I'm guessing someone will be talking to you about it fairly soon, but it won't be Hollander," the blond Turk replied. "I think it had something to do with Hollander's chosen method of infusion or something, but I don't dare try to offer more."

A silence fell again, then Scarlet said, "I'm no better at interpreting the scientific jargon than you are, but the Jenova Project notes—the complete records—are in the hidden lab in Shinra Manor in Nibelheim."

Doriss blinked, then gave a wry smile and said, "And we have another hit."

"A what?" Eonna asked in puzzlement.

"Auryn knows about the lab and what data can be found there," she replied, still amused. "Go ahead and have Vincent ask him—now that he's back from wherever Tseng took him to." At the last, she was smirking wickedly.

To both Genesis' and Scarlet's surprise, Eonna gave a long sigh and said, "So you _do_ know a whole lot more about him than most of us thought. I'd go so far as to say you've been sneaking in to talk with him since he's been there."

"I'm _shocked_ it took Vincent pointing out that my apartment's right above his for any of you to even realize I was privy to everything happening down there," the other Turk replied with a grin.

"But you don't have an apartment below yours?" Genesis blinked, and Scarlet looked equally perplexed.

Both Eonna and Doriss blinked at the two of them, then began giggling behind their hands. It was Eonna who said, "There's no front door, but there's certainly an apartment. The balcony was always there."

Scarlet's brow rose, then she asked, "So, what's the photo which started this?" Eonna offered it to her, causing her to frown at it thoughtfully before asking, "So exactly who are the Ruis? Did the mother work, what kinds of grades did the girls have in school, what's the 'ability' the younger girl has?" She then passed the photo back to Genesis as she looked curiously between the Turks.

"Shalyn didn't work after she quit her job with the Science Department, after they returned her 'dead' son to her," Doriss said. "So she was getting by on whatever money Kariya made. It was more difficult to get stable amounts when he was a terrorist and mercenary, but it was easier for him to slip past the watchers. Once he joined the Turks, he had a much more stable income to pass on to them, but it became harder for him to get it to her because he was under observation as well until recently. Her health had been steadily deteriorating since she 'lost' her son. The girls were above average in most of their classes, though Shelke excelled at handling technology and Shalua was quite good with sciences. As for her ability—sharing that's not my call. Anything else about their family lives to date, you'd have to ask _them_."

The red haired man sighed faintly, and Scarlet offered, "I could offer you and Kariya some quality time to get to know one another here, while you have both an excuse to not fight and a chaperone in case something comes up."

"I may just take you up on that, but not right now—I'm still trying to adapt to this," Genesis replied, still obviously out of sorts.

"Well, I guess that means our work is done for the day, right Dor?" Eonna asked with a wry smile after a short pause.

"Guess so," Doriss agreed. "In which case, I need to get to the office." She rose and gathered her things, calling back to the Guard, "Thanks for the hand, Eonna!" and was gone.

Eonna also gathered her things, but didn't get up. "So, how about the next part of your rendition of LOVELESS, Genesis?" she asked in faint amusement, and the man perked up right away.

"Right! I'm borrowing your copy, Lady Red," Genesis grinned, rising to go to her bookshelf.

"Go for it," she agreed with a smile, sitting beside Eonna as both women turned their attention to him.

FoWD

Ever since Donnel had accidentally attacked her a little over a week ago, he'd been avoiding her, so she was mildly surprised when she got to the office and found Donnel sitting on the edge of her desk, gaze a little uncertain as he met hers. She gave him a faint smile as she asked, "So, how goes it?"

"Well enough," he replied, a faint smile on his lips as he put down and slid towards her a folded sheet of paper she almost took as a flattened origami box. "I was asked to pass that on to you, though if you want to know what it _is_, apparently you'll have to 'unravel' it without tearing it. But, you'll have to wait for later, because Verdot's sending us to the Slums to meet a man...Well, we're first meeting Lakis to help him with his case, then you and Lakis will be going to meet a new informant while I return the report to Verdot. If you'd like to ask him for more details, you'd better do it now, before he leaves—you only have about five minutes."

The blond woman's brows rose into her hairline as she took the folded paper and stuck it in her pocket while asking, "A new informant in the Slums? Reliable enough to send both of us to meet him now, when I assume he's new or you'd have a name to offer me?"

With a shrug, the younger man replied, "Apparently, Percia is his key contact with us, and yes, he's apparently going to be reliable. I don't know what they talked about, but they were in there for about two hours because of it. You need to know him and he you so he knows who he should be passing information on to if she's not able for some reason, hence yours and Lakis' orders."

"I see," Doriss agreed with a faint sigh. "We can head out shortly, then," she said as she headed to the door to Verdot's office. She was about to knock on it when it suddenly opened, and Verdot froze in the doorway as she froze with her hand raised to knock. "I guess that means I _really was_ cutting my time a bit short," she finally said in faint amusement. "Mind if I get some details on my orders before you go, Sir?"

The dark haired man gave her a wryly amused look and agreed, "Step inside, then, Doriss." He backed up so she could enter, closed the door behind her, and said, "I'm guessing the most pressing issue is the sudden new informant." At the blond woman's nod, he said, "Percia apparently defeated the leader of a bandit group, and in the process, earned his respect and loyalty. Vincent gave his okay to have the group as informants, but he's leaving their management in Percia's hands. Their leader, a man named Shears, will take over data collection if she can't take a weekly trip to do the task, and will pass it on to you in her place. Other than the quantity of data you'll be collecting from him if it becomes necessary, it shouldn't be any different from what you usually do. Hence the meet-and-greet. Vincent's pair already met him last week. You'll be heading to Slum Sector Seven's newly re-done bar, Seventh Heaven."

"I see," Doriss agreed. "I sincerely hope it's as reliable as Percia, Vincent, and you think it will be. And Lakis' case?"

"He and the man he was tailing are being held hostage, so your task is to free them both. His word on his target will decide whether the other man will be let go or whether Donnel will escort him back here, but you and Lakis will need to get out of the Sector Three Slums via the back routes so you don't get caught by the weapons traffickers currently holding them. As for the traffickers—once you have their location and have gotten out of there, send a message to Commander Hewley with the location and the words 'the cage is empty'. And don't hang around to see what will happen, because none of you will be equipped to participate in the arranged sting SOLDIER is handling there."

The woman's brow rose, then she nodded and agreed, "I can do that." She then paused.

"Was there something else?" he asked curiously.

For a moment, she paused, then asked, "Exactly how badly do you—do the Hounds—want to get your hands on the Guards' new stray?"

Something in Verdot's gaze changed, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was, and he didn't answer right away. "If what you've been hinting at is even a fraction of the truth, if I get enough data to give it to the President, chances are he'll be a top priority target. Since that data isn't forthcoming, I have little to nothing to tell the President," he finally said in a brittle, dry tone.

She realized it was a warning. And she realized she was being told to let the matter drop or there would be repercussions, likely dire ones. With a nod, she said instead, "Thank you for elaborating on my case orders, Sir. I'll head out, then." He nodded, and she turned back to the door.

As she joined Donnel in the main office, Verdot left, and Donnel asked, "All ready, then?"

"Yeah," she agreed, so they headed out, Doriss still pondering Verdot's behavior just then.


	25. 24-Turn-About

Turn-About

Auryn was sitting at his kitchen table with lots of paper and a few books in front of him, trying to work out the array pattern which caused the effect of directing energy around the body without interfering with it. He knew those arrays existed in his own body, but while it was easy to find the central ones, finding all the applicable sub-arrays was another story. Since his goal was to manipulate those energies without the requirement of a body being there, he first needed the original arrays to know the complete instructions. The books admittedly weren't doing him much good, but they at least kept reminding him of the sheer complexity of the arrays he'd have to find.

As he worked, he heard his balcony door open, and paused long enough to see who it was—Doriss. He went back to work as she sat across from him and said in an amused tone, "You _do_ realize it's three in the morning, right?"

"Couldn't sleep," he replied, sketching another sub-array.

"Any particular reason why?" she asked, still sounding amused.

"I'm just not tired right now."

"Really?" Doriss chuckled. "Well, whatever." She paused to look at the books and the arrays, then shook her head and muttered, "I'm not going to ask."

He gave her a faintly amused look, then blinked as she pulled out a folded square of paper and began trying to work out how to get it open. "Looks like a Wutain trick letter," the blond boy commented, starting on a new sub-array, though he was less sure of its inclusion, so placed it on a different sheet from the one he'd started on as she'd come in.

"I noticed. Did Tseng have Donnel pass it on to me, then?"

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure Vincent and Kariya both know the same folding technique. I never bothered to learn it, just how to get it open again."

The woman paused with a faint frown, then looked up and asked, "So how do you get it open without ripping it?"

"It's not really something I can talk you through," he replied dryly. She offered it to him, but he shook his head. "It's yours, so don't look at me. And Donnel probably gave you a hint to work from, anyway."

Leaning forward, Doriss asked, "Could I bribe you into doing it for me? It'll sure make things faster."

"Bribery? Really?" Auryn asked as his brow quirked.

"Bribery is a valid currency," Doriss smirked.

He looked up at her in faint amusement. "Fine, then offer me something I actually want and maybe I'll agree, depending on how badly I want what you're offering."

"I know you won't go for candy or money..." She sat back with a hum and an absent expression, thinking for a couple of minutes. Auryn blinked in surprise as her eyes lit up and she leaned forward again to say, "I have to go get it from my bank vault during open hours, but on one of my cases in Wutai, I came across—"

"Stole!" the boy interjected in pure amusement.

"Ahem! I _came across_—" (Her emphasis on the words made Auryn snicker.) "—a very interesting 'weapon' which I think you may like. The basic premise is to have it hidden so someone trying to grab you would get a very nasty surprise—they're a series of very, very small, sharp spikes with poison in them which you can link together, separate, put in different places. For example, if you were to wear a choker, you could push them through from the underside, and anyone who tried to grab your neck would end up grabbing the spikes and getting poisoned. As long as you handle them carefully and know where they are, you could have them all over your body with no one the wiser. And, for the record, this poison kills in about ten seconds."

"Does it work like that on SOLDIERs, too?" the younger blond asked curiously. Had he ever come across a weapon like that before? He didn't think so.

"Um...I don't think they'd die as quickly, but I also believe it would work—I lucked out once when a pair of Dark Dragons came down from the north, and just one of those spikes had enough poison to kill the one which injured me about five minutes after injection. I honestly have no idea how or why, especially since the poison replenishes itself once it's been used. Whether you would be the exception, given the state of your 'blood', I don't know, but I think even _you'd_ end up dead with it." Auryn stiffened in shock and fear approaching panic at the words, so she said, "I'm not sharing that with anyone, Auryn. You have the right to know I've got your medical records, though, so yes, I _am_ aware of the state of your body."

At that point, he'd have had a full-blown panic attack if Minerva hadn't interjected a sense of it being okay for Doriss to know, but with the knowledge from her, he was able to close his eyes and try the calming technique Tseng had taught him. It wasn't so different from someone coaching him to breathe deeply and slowly if he was having an attack, but it also wasn't easy to do alone. He tried, forcing his breath to come more slowly, for some time—he had no idea how long, but Doriss was watching him worriedly by the time he was able to open his eyes and look at her.

"Doing all right?" she asked him when she saw lucidity in his eyes, not blank fear.

"About as well as can be expected," he muttered. "Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?"

She rolled her eyes. "Good job. Now, about that weapon...?"

First, Auryn sighed, not sure how to take her reaction—then decided to go back to the topic because she was just doing what she always did, giving him a sense of normalcy. As far as the weapon went, it was obviously very rare, and likely extremely difficult to produce, so it was probably not one he'd come across again. It had several advantages other weapons didn't have, and people would be hard-pressed to realize it was there or avoid it. While there were also down-sides to it, such as poisoning an ally or friend by accident, he actually thought the good out-weighed the bad.

"Fine," he finally agreed. "I'll expect you to give it to me in the evening. Trick letter."

He held his hand out for the folded square, which she passed to him with a grin, then watched with interest as he began shuffling it around and moving parts. The first thing he'd had to do was open it up into its box form and re-flatten it opposite the way it originally had been, and from there, he could flip open the small folds holding it together. Each adjustment made it larger, until he reached the half-way point and it was returned in one set of four folds to nearly the size it had started at, but then it opened up again from there.

By the time it opened into a single, flat sheet, over twenty minutes had passed and Doriss looked stunned. He passed it to her without looking at it—only for her to read it, then pass it back to him, her expression annoyed. Looking down at it, he noted the hand-written text as one he didn't know, but the writer's identity became obvious as he read it:

_I have no idea how you got the data you did, but it isn't data you should leave lying around. Either way, we're trusting you to keep your knowledge close, because if it falls into the wrong hands, the one to suffer for it will be—well, you know the answer to that._

_In the meantime, I would like to ask you to let us know if you hear something you know, or think, we need to know. We leave that at your discretion, but every little bit will help. I can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong, more than my husband's usual bid for power._

It wasn't signed, and gave away shockingly little to people who weren't already in the know, but it was easy to deduce that Lady Shinra was the writer. Which likely meant Vincent had been the one to fold it. He could sort of see why it annoyed Doriss, though.

"They're just asking you to do something you're already doing," Auryn pointed out.

"I know. The problem with destroying the evidence is that, without proof, _every_one will be in trouble," the older blond sighed. "I don't plan to leave it out where just anyone can find it, though."

"Yeah...How successful do you think that will be?"

"...I guess we'll be finding out."

Auryn gave a faint sigh and went back to his array work, and Doriss sat watching him thoughtfully for a few minutes before finally asking, "Where did Tseng take you to for those couple days you were away?"

"To visit my honorary sisters," he replied blandly.

"...Your what?" the older woman blinked in surprise.

"Well, technically, he was only taking me to visit one of them because I _saw_ the other's dead body, but then she was there, too, so..."

"You 'saw' her body in one of your 'scenarios'?"

"No. She died—as far as I knew—before the scenarios even _began_."

Again, Doriss was quiet for a few moments, then asked, "And you were okay with that?"

Looking up at her, Auryn replied bluntly, "My brain broke for a bit, and all I could grasp was that she was alive, I was holding her again. Like I said, I spent more of those two days unaware than aware. And, I've _never_ seen Tseng as relaxed as I just saw him first thing in the morning both days—he wasn't even in his uniform."

"Was that a good thing or a bad one?" the Turk asked in faint amusement.

Going back to his work, Auryn thought about the question. Had it been anything at all? He'd only ever seen 'Tseng the Turk', not 'Tseng the man' in every previous dimension, even the first one. Some of the discussions they'd had over the various dimensions had been more personal—and personable—than others, but they had still always been part of the Turk element of the Wutain. It had been impossible to separate the 'Turk' from 'Tseng'. Now, not only had Tseng shown him he could cook, but he'd shown him there was more to 'Tseng' than just 'the Turk'.

Suddenly, he stopped working and looked up in surprise as he realized what it had done. "He's starting to become a different person to me than the ones who had previously hurt me."

Doriss smiled. "Then that's a good thing. And for him to have let his guard down around you also means he trusts you implicitly—otherwise, even in familiar territory, he'd never have let you see him that way."

"How do you—?" he gaped at her.

"The only Turk I know of who sees him as a man is Ansha—even _Vincent and Lady Shinra_ don't get quite so much of his open friendship and trust. I only know because I go sneaking around where and when I shouldn't be. I was curious about seeing Tseng in less than his full uniform, so started following him around in my free time. There was one thing which blatantly stood out—he _never_, with anyone except Ansha, removed his tie and jacket in their company, or openly _relaxed_ and behaved like a normal person. It was odd to see him sprawled on her couch with his eyes closed. I never saw that trend with _anyone_ else."

"...Does that mean he doesn't trust anyone else?" Auryn blinked.

She shook her head. "He trusts them the way _any_ Turk trusts another, and the way the Guards trust one another. That says a lot. But it says _infinitely more_ when he lets his guard down completely with certain people."

Auryn had no response to that, so opted to go back to his work until he got tired enough to sleep, which wasn't until after Doriss had left and returned with some snack foods for them.

FoWD

"Verdot," Vincent said tiredly as the named man turned the corner at about eleven at night the day after Verdot had sent Doriss and Lakis to meet their new informant. Verdot froze, glancing between Lady Shinra's office door and the man waiting outside it in wary puzzlement, only for Vincent to sigh. "Stop doing this. Just...stop."

Verdot eyed him for a long moment, then slowly shook his head and answered, "I can't do that." The two of them had known one another for the bulk of both their lives; they were even only two years apart in age. Back then, Verdot had always thought those two years were a huge gap, but the reality had always been that no one had ever known him as well as Vincent, and he'd never been closer to anyone else, not even his wife and daughter.

A wife who had just informed him that they were getting divorced now that Felicia had joined the Turks.

Keeping busy was currently his best bet until his reaction to the news had settled. Another attempt to carry out Lady Shinra's assassination was one of those, but he was sure Vincent knew it was half-hearted at best, especially right now.

It wasn't that he wouldn't carry it out if the opportunity presented itself (which should have been right then, as Vincent had supposedly been called away to deal with something), it was that he wasn't putting the effort into accomplishing the task he should have been. Then again, with a man who knew him as well as Vincent, that was a pointless endeavor, as he'd never actually succeed while the other man was guarding her. For all his own trained, honed skills and decades now of experience, his fellow founding Turk had _always_ been just that little bit more skilled, just that one step ahead.

"Verdot, right now, you can't even _lift_ your gun, let alone pull the trigger," Vincent replied in a rather brittle, annoyed tone. Then his gaze became worried and he asked quietly, "What happened?"

With a faint sigh, Verdot shook his head. "We're on opposite sides now, Vincent. You shouldn't care so much about an enemy—that's a weakness."

"If you actually _were_ one," the black haired man replied dryly.

"You know I'd kill her if you weren't guarding her," the brown haired Turk replied flatly.

"And that's why you never 'try to kill her' when I've left other Guards here and gone somewhere else?" Vincent asked sweetly, that time with amused eyes.

Reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, Verdot replied, "Don't call attention to that, you idiot."

"Who do you think is watching us here, right now?" the older of the two asked. "Because I've made sure no one is. I—noticed something has been bothering you for a few days, and I want to be able to help you. You're not an enemy to me, just a misplaced friend. I don't want to see you suffering."

The words reminded Verdot of a time long, long before, back when he and Vincent had still been kids, eking out a living in the slums of Junon, way back before Midgar was even being built. Admittedly, Vincent had sort of come out of nowhere, all of twelve years old, saying his mother had died and no one could find his father, so he'd been out on the street on his own. But for ten-year-old Verdot, who had ended up there not long before because his family had been killed by monsters while they had been traveling, they were both in the same boat.

Those years, before Janelle Shinra had found them as a fourteen and a sixteen-year-old, while they had been hard, they had also been happy and simple.

It had hurt to realize they were becoming divided.

Neither had been able to step away from their chosen paths, though.

Verdot looked away from Vincent as he asked, "After everything I've done, do I really have the right to your friendship—or your help?"

"If you know it's wrong, then stop following that path, Verdot," the older man replied shrewdly, crossing his arms over his chest and giving him an annoyed look. "I'd really like my best friend back sometime before I die."

_How quaint,_ Verdot couldn't help but think as he gave a short chuckle. "I never knew Turks could be such saps," he commented, but the tone—much to his horror—came out more longing and bitter than he'd expected.

"Feelings don't just go away," Vincent's soft voice reached him, the tone pleading. "Even just once, _please_ show me there's still a chance we can—have back what we lost. If I thought there was another way, a way which wouldn't just destroy everything we all worked so hard to build, I would be standing _beside_ you, not opposite you."

The appeal nearly brought Verdot to tears as he remembered their vows to one another and to Lady Shinra all those years ago. If only she had never turned her back on him when all he was asking for was to have returned to him the last surviving memento of his dead family! Everything else—she would have been his preference of leader, but his loyalty ultimately went to the President, the man who had helped him when she hadn't. This tug-of-war was painful, even after he had chosen his...Well, he supposed the President was more of a 'master' than a 'leader'.

Then he'd realized what would become of the Turks if he _didn't_ split the ranks.

In the President's mind, Janelle had too much power, and he wanted it—he was a control freak, probably the worst one Verdot would ever meet. It was also obvious the President feared the Turks for their abilities as much as their initial loyalty to Lady Shinra. Unless the President felt secure in his power over half of them—the power Verdot gave him—the Turks would become worse than dogs, just tools to be used up and tossed in the trash. Everything they were would be broken, they would be mere shadows of themselves without even a fraction of either the honor or the integrity of their current group.

And yet, every time he thought about turning on the President and just eliminating him before he could destroy them, Verdot remembered that he owed the man the last little bit of his family and closure for his past. Some of the other early Turks had also had a similar experience, though he and Vincent were the last ones left of what they called 'the founding Turks'. The number the President had helped had been small, but big enough for them to have found one another and realized there was, in fact, some sort of favoritism going on there. He was the only one who could claim to have been given more than one 'gift' by the President, and who the President actively asked for advice, much like one would a friend.

He was no fool—the President didn't see him as a friend. He was, however, valuable to the President, and had been able to use his value more than once to spare his Turks pain, or even their lives. That he had the President's ear enough to do such things said a great deal about the position he held to the man, even without friendship. At the very least, respect was a fair portion of it. He allowed the President his control, and in return was given more freedom than most, allowing him to make a difference when it most mattered. Vincent held out for what Verdot himself viewed as an impossible fantasy.

But he _missed_ the easy friendship he'd once had with Vincent, he couldn't deny that.

Finally, he looked back at Vincent and offered, "You never really knew Mira, beyond her not actually liking my job."

"Unfortunately, no. Why?" the other man blinked in mild surprise.

"A few days ago, I got a letter from her telling me she's filing for a divorce now that I've 'taken her daughter away from her.' She blames me for Felicia wanting to follow in my footsteps, and seems to have decided she no longer has a reason to stay around in Kalm, waiting for us to show up one day," he explained, suddenly feeling tired. He leaned his shoulder on the hall wall and crossed his arms.

Vincent's eyes widened and he commented, "Well, _that's_ definitely not something I expected would happen after twenty years..." Verdot had to snort at the comment, but Vincent then went on, "How are you holding up? How is _Felicia_ holding up?"

Shaking his head with a small sigh, Verdot replied, "I haven't told her yet. To be honest, I'm still processing the entirety of the letter. Right now, I just feel...empty."

After a momentary pause, Vincent sighed and admitted, "That would be hard on _anyone_. Maybe you should actually take a couple days off? It'll give Tseng a chance to get his feet wet with actual command responsibility, and show him the other side of the fence."

Verdot's brow rose as he asked in faint amusement, "And you think a Guard through-and-through will be able to objectively handle the Hounds, even just for a few days?"

There was amusement in Vincent's voice as he commented, "He hasn't forgotten we _both_ saved him, and I know Doriss and Donnel will help him out while he figures out how things work. I know we've been operating under the assumption that I'll be the first one to go and Tseng would have to try to fill _my_ role, but the reality is, we have no idea who will out-live whom. He could, theoretically, be taking over for either or both of us. And _you_ haven't chosen a second of your own, either, leaving him as the only one, _regardless_ of which of us dies first. He needs the experience and the exposure to the Hounds."

As much as he didn't want to admit it (on principle), he knew Vincent had made a lot of good points. He _needed_ a bit of time away to sort himself out, and Tseng _needed_ experience in command—of _both_ sides of the divide, because there really was no telling which one he would have to lead. The only problem was the divide. While Donnel could openly cross that line, trying to drop Tseng amongst the Hounds as-is and suddenly would be like dropping a rabbit in a pit full of hungry dogs. He had been hoping Tseng would join the Hounds, because he had a legitimate, fatherly fondness for the young Wutain—he didn't want to see him suffer the way he would from that.

Meeting Vincent's gaze again, he said, "I can't have him dropped amongst the Hounds just like that. It honestly won't help, especially not for him to have any sort of command. We'll need to arrange something to make his place there valid."

"Let's go find a place to discuss it, then. Your room? Or somewhere out? I could do with a bit of a drink right now," Vincent readily offered.

Lips quirking with a small, relieved smile, the younger man agreed, "A drink sounds good right about now."

With a nod, the two headed out of the building to visit a bar in the city and work out what they could do to integrate Tseng into the Hounds.


	26. 25-Fallout

Fallout

Three days had passed since Doriss had dropped by with the trick letter, days Auryn had largely spent quietly with Tseng as various Guards visited with him. Later in the day on that first day, Doriss had also managed to return to leave the promised weapon with him. However, on the morning of the third day, Auryn was startled awake by a loud 'bang' from Kariya's apartment, followed by raised voices—not quite loud enough for him to make out the words, but loud enough to know this was no minor dispute.

He flinched and curled up into a tight ball under the covers, waiting for it to either end, or—as frequently was the case—someone to target him. Then, he had the sudden thought to bolt before they could turn on him, so pushed himself up (rather jerkily as he had to try to force his body into motion) and headed for the main room so he could reach the balcony. Climbing was _always_ an option. Before he got further than the doorway to the room, the door to Kariya's room opened and the man stepped through, shaking his head in something like amazement.

In the few moments the door was open before he closed it behind himself, Auryn heard Vincent saying, "—causing trouble! This isn't something you can—" Again, the words were muffled and he had no idea what was happening out there.

"I can't believe those two," Kariya sighed, shaking his head. "Looks like we're just snacking here until they're done." He eyed Auryn, frozen as he was in the doorway to his room, for a minute before asking, "Do I need to interrupt them to call the Doctor?"

The blond's eyes widened in surprise before he asked, "What's going on?" His voice was faint, but at least it was working.

"I'm not clear on the details, but apparently Tseng handed something to Vincent he didn't like—from before you two even left on your little trip—but he hadn't had time to actively check it before last night. It didn't help that Vincent apparently got no sleep over the last two nights and is expected back on guard duty shortly. I don't think a shouting match like that is going to do them any good, though, but trying to stop Vincent on a rampage is kinda like trying to calm an angry Behemoth. Rather than listen to them lit into each other, I thought this was the better option," Kariya explained.

"...Does this happen a lot?" Auryn asked tentatively, forcing his fingers to release the door jamb, which he'd been clutching in a death grip before then.

The older man paused, then blinked and shook his head slowly, gaze moving towards the bedroom window absently. "Come to think of it, no. I think I can only think of two other times it happened. One of them was a Hound who had been terrorizing the new Rookie Guards; the other was a Guard who suddenly thought it was okay to—take liberties—with a new Trainee who hadn't chosen a side yet. Needless to say, the result wasn't pretty, in either case. I've never seen him lose his temper like that before with anyone, and Tseng normally gets more leniency than the rest of us, on top of that. What brought _that_ on, I'm not sure." He said the last with a motion towards his apartment, indicating the present argument as the 'that' he was referring to.

After a moment—and a slamming door echoing probably around most of the floor—Auryn asked slowly, "I thought Doriss joined long before you were caught?"

Kariya blinked, then gave a wry snort and said, "She did. People talk. Eonna and Terri are the two longest-running Turks besides Vincent, Verdot, and Anki, and this comes from them, since I once asked what would happen if Vincent got angry. They cited what they knew of the situation, and those were the only two times they saw him angry enough to behave like he just was with Tseng. Does that mean Vincent is right and you've been meeting with Doriss for some time?"

"Almost since you brought me here," the blond had to reply in faint amusement. Then, he blinked and commented, "That—trip—helped my mental state a lot more than I realized at first." When Kariya smiled, Auryn blinked again and said, "But if that's not common, I think there's a reason for it."

"Vincent gave it," the Turk replied with a quirked brow.

Shaking his head with a bit of a flinch, the younger man explained, "No, with the number of times I've met various Vincents, I know creating that sort of conflict over something minor—unless Tseng effectively betrayed the Turks, which is, frankly, impossible—just _isn't_ something he would do. By nature, he _doesn't like_ conflict, and he _won't_ create it unless there's a really serious reason for him to do so."

"Too true," Vincent's voice came from behind Kariya, sounding amused. The other two turned to look at him to see him in the doorway to Kariya's apartment. When Kariya's jaw dropped, Vincent made a dismissing motion and said, "Now that I've set things in motion, we just need to see how they play out. And I'd appreciate it if you kept _that_ tidbit to yourselves." His gaze then went to Auryn and he asked curiously, "Have you got a guess about what just happened?"

The blond noticed right away that, while the black haired Turk looked notably tired, he didn't look at all like someone who had been the kind of furious Vincent had supposedly been moments before.

Blinking, then blinking again, Auryn gaped, "You were never even angry at all!" When Vincent just gave him an amused look, the blond looked off to the side as he ran data through his mind, calculating what the argument may mean. There was only one actively valid reason which would account for Vincent's complete lack of anger. "You're trying to push Tseng over to the Hounds," he said bluntly. When Kariya looked at them both in horror and Vincent raised a questioning brow, the younger blond added, "Well, not permanently. It's more like giving him a valid _reason_ to be going to them, so they'll accept him. It wouldn't work if it wasn't very real feeling on his part—he can't slip up an act if he doesn't realize it's a plot."

"But _why_ would you do that, Vincent?" Kariya asked in shock, and even a bit of pain.

"Later, Kariya. For now, there's no problem, and no, Tseng won't be excluded from the Guards or any of what we do," the Director replied to Kariya's distress.

Auryn's gaze was on Vincent as he said as flatly, "None of this would be a problem if you'd all get your heads out of your asses and work together again."

The black haired man chuckled at the words, then said, "I'd like nothing better, believe me, Auryn. Right now, these sorts of games are about the only way to manage it. Verdot led me to believe there's actually a reason for it—something harmful to _us_ if the divide were to disappear. I know the President is a control freak, so he may not be so far off the mark, either."

"There wouldn't be any reason for him to do anything to the Turks, whether we were split or not, though," Kariya frowned.

"Yeah...Kariya, you're saying that about a man who would rather destroy the world than let his power be even _marginally_ usurped," Auryn told him flatly.

"Is that experience from your scenarios?" Vincent asked apprehensively. When the younger man nodded tentatively, he asked, "What happened, and how many times?"

Auryn flinched, but closed his eyes to count the number of times he knew the President had destroyed the world. Finally, he had the rough number and said, "Of the ones I know about, somewhere between fifteen and twenty times, usually by shattering it with bombs (1). A few times, he managed to go on a killing spree so massive in his paranoia that he triggered Omega. He may have done it more often, but I wouldn't know if I'd already died in scenarios where that was the fate of the Planet. I just know nothing I've done in those scenarios resulted in _this_ world being saved."

Both men blinked at him in surprise, then Vincent frowned as Kariya's eyes widened in horror. "If that's true, the only thing saving us right now _is this split_, and letting Tseng cross the battle line will help. A lot. Having only Donnel and our spy isn't enough."

"What spy?" Kariya blinked. Vincent just gave him an amused look, and the orange haired man's lips quirked in amusement. "Sorry. Never mind." He then paused before asking, "So...you really weren't angry with Tseng?"

"No, not at all," the black haired man agreed. "In fact, the work he gave me—my actual copies, not the ones I presented earlier—were some of the _best_ investigative work I've _ever seen_. If there's one thing to be said for Wutains, they're perfectionists."

"Fine—then how can you be sure he'll come back?" the other man asked with a small frown.

"Because _I'm_ not the only one involved in this plot," Vincent smirked, then turned around to leave. He paused before walking away. "Anyway, you two can go about your usual day, and I'm off back to guard duty. Of course, she's going to be spending most of the day sleeping, so it'll be pretty damned boring." He sighed, then left.

For a couple minutes, both Kariya and Auryn just stared after him, then the older of the two sighed and said, "I guess that means we can eat now."

Before he could stop himself, Auryn chuckled.

FoWD

Tseng was absolutely _furious_.

Usually, Vincent was very mild mannered, easy-going, and open to finding out both (or all, depending on how many were involved) sides of the story. He investigated, but only rarely judged. To be told some of his best work had been—deliberately falsified—and for Vincent to not even _hear_ him, was just too much. He _knew_ he hadn't falsified anything—it had all been factual data he'd worked hard to track and hand in only after it had been verified. After triple-checking it, even! But for some reason, Vincent had gone from normal, friendly, open dealing with things, to sudden anger in the extreme—all of it based on Tseng supposedly having handed in something which would more appropriately have been called some child's fantasy!

Oh, Vincent had shown him the work. It had looked like his own writing, and had been done on what had looked like the same papers he'd handed to Vincent, but he _knew_ he hadn't written any of what Vincent had shown him. He'd have thought Vincent would have realized that as well and begun investigating, even if he asked him if he had any idea what had happened. More likely, by his usual behavior, Vincent would have asked if he had a copy of the data, or if he could quickly reproduce it.

Though, he should probably be relieved he wasn't being accused of being a traitor by Vincent's behavior today.

In his rage, he stalked through the halls of Shinra Headquarters, no real destination or goal in mind, not even realizing until nearly noon that _everyone_ who saw him was quickly diverting. He only became actively aware of it when he happened to notice a completely stunned pair of SOLDIER Commanders step out of his way to let him pass. More than anything, their deferral to him told him how angry he looked right then, like a tiger on the prowl, because SOLDIERs _didn't_ back away from Turks the way Angeal and Genesis just had. Side-stepped them to avoid a collision, yes, but not backing well out of their way, as though afraid of them.

Then again, with his current mindset, bumping into someone would likely result in the person's death, even a SOLDIER—it was a known fact that Turks actually _knew_ how to kill them.

Suddenly, he turned a corner—and ran right into someone. As he'd known he would, he reacted with a snarl and an attack to the invasion of his personal space, causing a yelp—and a sensation like his fist hitting a stone wall. He was nothing like calm, and the resistance just angered him further, causing him to lash out against said wall with all the force he could muster. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware he was attacking someone's Shield spell, and that the caster was a Turk who was staring at him in stunned amazement.

Right then, it didn't matter, as he lashed out over and over again—until he ran out of strength...and anger. At that point, he began collapsing, shaking with hurt and exhaustion as he did—and not caring who it was that caught him so he didn't hit the ground. It was probably the same Turk whose Shield he had been attacking, and if said Turk was willing to...well, take care of him, until he calmed down, he would take anything he could get right then. Just the fact that someone was sitting on the floor in the middle of one of the Shinra building halls with him was enough to break the dam on his tears, and while he could keep them silent, he couldn't stop them.

It just wasn't _fair_!

Though, saying such a thing in a world which wasn't fair showed far more naivete than _any_ Turk should have been displaying. In his defense, Vincent had _always_ been fair before then, so to be dealt a blow like that by Vincent hurt on a level he couldn't even begin to process.

He had no idea how long it took him to stop crying, but by the time he had, he was exhausted, had been left feeling oddly empty, and was capable of thinking again. With thought came awareness of his surroundings. He reached up to rub his eyes, then slowly sat back to find out who he'd just cried on—only to see Lakis. If he hadn't been so exhausted, he'd have been stunned, horrified, and embarrassed (and probably mortified, too), but as he was right then, all it meant was, 'Oh, that explains the Shield spell.' Lakis was, after all, their only Mage.

"How are you feeling?" Lakis asked, gaze worried.

Worried? About a Guard? What?

Giving his head a shake, Tseng muttered, "Don't know—still processing. Exhausted, though."

"I don't blame you—whatever set you off was serious enough to take down my Shield spell _three times_ before you ran out of oomph. I'd never have thought that was even _possible_ before now," Lakis commented, and Tseng blinked, realizing how much the incident had hurt.

"I thought Hounds hated Guards and would happily see us suffer?" the younger man asked tiredly. This was too much to try to process, even with his thought processes functioning again.

Lakis' lips quirked in faint amusement. "Is _that_ what the Guards have been saying about us to their Rookies?" Tseng couldn't actively make sense of the words, and the older, brown haired man apparently realized that, so asked instead, "What happened?"

At the question, the Wutain couldn't stop his hurt and bitterness from showing through. "I was just accused of—falsifying data for a case, effectively telling stories and wasting Vincent's time. I did _so many hours_ of work on that case I lost count before I was half-way done, and even _you'd_ have been _proud_ of the amount of research I'd put into it, but somehow, anything I had to say was _completely irrelevant_!" he spat, wrapping his arms around his body. If he hadn't already exhausted his supply of tears, he'd probably have begun crying again just then.

The other Turk's brown eyes widened in shocked horror, then he rose, quickly gathered his papers—they had fallen to the floor when the two Turks had run into one another—and offered a hand to Tseng. It was obviously doubling as a peace offering, and while part of him wondered what he was about to get himself into, wondered if he even _should_ be getting himself into it, he was mostly just too tired to _care_. After a pause, he took the hand, let Lakis pull him to his feet, and allowed the older man to lead him away with an arm around his shoulders.

Admittedly, on the walk, he'd drifted into an absent daze, but it didn't prepare him to see the Turks' office—Hound territory—when he came out of it. It was Lakis pushing a plate of food into his hands which brought him back to awareness, causing him to grip the plate, then look around at where he was. One desk in the middle of the room held several dishes of food from a restaurant in the city—his plate had come from there—but it otherwise looked just the way he'd seen it the few other times he'd been there, though Verdot's office door was closed at the moment. He should have guessed Lakis would take him to their office.

Half the Hounds present were watching him with suspicion, but left him alone, so he—just kept his eyes on his food, not really able to process what he should be doing with it right then. And he didn't feel hungry. Peripheral vision let him observe the Hounds.

One was a new face, a blond young man who was probably the new trainee Vincent had told him about, code-named Quis. Though, Quis had only joined two days before and seemed somewhat puzzled, still obviously trying to figure out his place with the Turks—if he took well to the office environment, he'd likely be a Hound. Also present there, besides Lakis, were Judet, Derin, Cissnei, and Emma—the usual day shift—with Maur, Balto, and Alvis. Maur and Balto were the trainees' usual trainers, so were taking time out of their usual scheduled evening work to train them. Currently, they were probably planning an afternoon session, and were just waiting for their last young Rookie, Percia.

Someone suddenly sat beside him, making him blink and look up—to see Cissnei sitting there. "Lakis told us what happened to you," she said, her gaze sad as she looked at him. "I had also thought Vincent was more fair than what he did just then. Maybe I can't really speak for the others, but—I wouldn't mind if you hung out with us until he gets that stick out of his ass."

"Assuming he can even _reach_ it," Emma snorted, sitting to Tseng's other side and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I've missed you, you know. Having you around here will be like old times at the Academy—I'd like that."

"_Don't_ get too familiar with a Guard," Balto called over to them in annoyance.

"Shut it, Balto," Emma retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "I happen to _miss_ one of my best friends, so I'll be as friendly with him as I want."

Balto rolled his eyes as Tseng's lips quirked a bit with amusement at Emma's declaration, then he looked down at his as-yet untouched plate. It was just strange sitting in their office without sneering or word games like he usually saw anywhere else, making him think both sides were...putting on a public act?

Emma tapped his shoulder with the hand attached to the arm wrapped around him, so he looked up at her. She pointedly motioned with her chin at his plate, clearly telling him to eat. If it was drugged or anything, he doubted she would encourage him to eat, as they'd spent nearly five years in classes together at the Academy and had been quite good friends—despite their current factions, he couldn't see her trying to harm him. As such, even though he didn't feel hungry just then, he obediently took a bite of the food on his plate, chewed slowly, and swallowed.

After a few moments, he suddenly realized he was _ravenous_. Less than three minutes later, he'd devoured everything on his plate and was _still_ hungry, so hesitated for only a few moments before getting up and going to the desk to get more food. Emma cheerfully followed him with her 'I told you so smirk' on her face, which he ignored in his quest for more food, just as much as he ignored Derin frowning at him faintly from across the desk. His hunger level was higher than normal, he quickly realized as he emptied his plate a second time, still standing at the desk, and still felt he could eat more. It had toned down by then, so when he took his last helping, he could eat it more slowly.

It was then when he heard Balto say, "But there was no actual _reason_ for them to have blown up a random cave in the southern Nibel Mountains. If anything, they _should_ have blown up the one we found with the crafted stone-work Alvis found near the river."

"Obviously, we blew it up because it _wasn't just_ 'a random cave'—it housed a stagnant Mako pool, the same one Doctors Valentine and Crescent investigated decades ago," Tseng told them bluntly, not particularly caring that he was betraying the Guards by saying it.

Balto and his three discussion partners, Maur, Judet, and Lakis, all turned to stare at him in shock before Lakis asked, "Is that really the case?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Tseng answered, "I was there—I _helped_ blow it up. Of _course_ I know what I was destroying."

"What's the difference between stagnant Mako and normal Mako?" Judet asked with a faint frown.

"Intensity, apparently. Any truth to Chaos and Omega Theory?" Lakis asked, gaze intent and curious, focused and highly interested in the reply Tseng would give.

"I know Chaos exists—Vincent is housing him," Tseng shrugged. "Yes, Hojo and the President know that. Omega and the rest of the Theory, I can't say anything about because we don't actually have proof of it to cite. The difference between Mako and stagnant Mako is the order of effect—with Mako, you get Mako poisoning, then potentially deformity, but with stagnant Mako, you effectively instantly become a Makonoid, and only _if_ you survive the rapid deformity would you actually get Mako poisoning. And it takes far less stagnant Mako to get the effect than it takes of regular Mako, either manufactured or natural."

Everyone stared at him in shock for a minute before Derin asked, "How do you know those kinds of details about the two kinds of Mako?"

"You can thank our new stray," the Wutain answered. He ignored them trading glances and went back to eating.

"What about the crafted stone-work in the cave near the river there?" Judet finally asked, gaze puzzled, like she was trying to figure him out.

"Apparently, a Mage with an earth-based affinity can remodel stone and soil to whatever shape they want it to be, though it takes 'materials' to do it—they can't create a stone plate out of thin air, the stone forming it has to come from somewhere. As it so happens, Auryn is quite a skilled Mage with an earth affinity," Tseng shrugged again.

"...Seriously? You're betraying the Guards in a fit of temper?" Cissnei blinked as she stepped up to the table to peer at him worriedly.

"I'm actually perfectly calm right now," he told her dryly. "It's more along the line that I don't really _care_ right now—they deserve worse than these little, minor bits of data being shared, especially since I'm pretty sure word has reached at least some of you about some of Auryn's quirks."

"I knew he was a Mage at Genesis' level," Balto admitted with a faint sigh. "I didn't actually realize how important that detail was before now, though."

The door to Verdot's office opened suddenly and a smiling Percia stepped out—only to stop and stare in shock as she asked, "Tseng? What are _you_ doing _here_?"

"Tseng?" Verdot's voice came from in the office, sounding surprised. A moment later, he appeared behind Percia in the doorway. He then blinked and asked, "What happened?"

All Tseng bothered to do was make a disgusted face and go back to his meal, so Lakis explained, including a mention of the data Tseng had offered to them. Percia's eyes were as wide as saucers as she shook her head in disbelief, but Verdot made his way to Tseng's side and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Join me in my office. It seems we have a lot to discuss."

"We do?" the Wutain Turk blinked, looking up at the older man in surprise.

Verdot's gaze became amused as he asked, "Have you forgotten that you're the _only_ registered replacement for either Vincent _or myself_?" Many pairs of eyes widened at the revelation, though Tseng just blinked. "Vincent hasn't given you a chance to explore actual command, has he?" When Tseng just gave his head a small shake, Verdot nodded. "That needs to change. As things stand, if Vincent won't give you that training—and is apparently not fond of you right now on top of it—it's in everyone's best interests if you start learning. What better place than here and now?"

Several jaws dropped as Derin protested, "But he's a Guard!"

Meeting Derin's gaze, Verdot asked, "Is that why he just gave you information previously exclusive to the Guards, some of it limited to a small number even of _them_?" Silence fell, so Verdot returned his gaze to Tseng and said, "I leave the decision to you to join me or not—though I do hope you will." He then turned and went back to his office, shooing Percia out of the way of the door as he did.

For a minute, Tseng just stared after him, then sought out Emma's gaze. She smiled and told him, "You've been complaining for a year about how you feel like you're not getting anywhere with the Guards. Maybe it _is_ time for you to step away from them."

His gaze moved to the others, searching—and quickly found that the worst he saw from any of the other Hounds was the same kind of uncertainty he'd seen when any other new and unknown commander was being put in charge. If he'd seen anger, suspicion, hatred, or jealousy, he may have flat-out refused, as it would have meant he would never be seen as a trusted commander, but now...

It really was an opportunity he couldn't pass up, and he now knew he effectively had the approval of over half the Hounds.

Giving Emma a nod, he put his plate down and turned to head for Verdot's office.

**Notes:**

(1) No, this doesn't include the first dimension, because Ed never knew how that one ended up destroyed. Only the readers know that fact, and the characters who went to Spira in FoW. In FoWD, the cutoff was before Tseng and the others who'd had a visual on the destruction could share their observations with anyone else. The same would be true of SH—the bombs were still there, but Eden didn't know about it until well after it had been resolved, which wasn't while he was at Fuhito's lab in the north.


	27. 26-Command

Command

For Tseng, the next three days had effectively been a crash course in command, and Verdot had proven a strict, though fair, task-master. He had previously thought, by the way the Guards and Hounds had interacted, that fairness was foreign to the Hounds and their leader. Doriss and Donnel had both been stunned by his presence and new position, but had accepted it readily enough, leaving only a couple of Hounds who were less than certain about him. He'd spent all his waking hours learning what he needed to know, and hadn't actually had either the time or the energy to even find out if Vincent was in a better frame of mind, let alone how Auryn was doing.

And then, at noon on that third day, Verdot suddenly announced, "I think you have a good enough grasp of what you need to do to take over for me for a week while I take a long-overdue vacation."

First, Tseng blinked, then asked in a near-panic, "Wait, what? _Now_? I've barely gotten started, I have no idea how to _apply_ what you've been teaching me—"

"Tseng, calm down," Verdot said in amusement. Tseng stopped, just staring at the older man in something like terror. "The only thing which should go outside the Turks, I've already arranged to still go to me—you won't have to deal with the President or Heidegger. In the meantime, any missions which come up will either go to you for approval or come from Lady Shinra, and your main tasks will be allocating Hounds to missions, over-viewing and signing the reports they return to you, and arranging for support as needed. Those, you've shown an exemplary ability to handle—yes, with real work. I wasn't giving you false examples or completed missions, I was having you handle our current work, checking it for where you needed to improve, and handing out your orders to my Hounds. You have a true knack for basic command."

After a minute to calm down while assessing the words, Tseng asked, "But what if an emergency comes up?"

"Then, you take it to Lady Shinra, or defer it to her," Verdot replied. "I'm having you take over to handle run-of-the-mill work, not the rest of what will one day become your responsibility. That will come in later lessons, after I've gotten back from getting my own head on straight again. I _need_ this time away, and I know you can handle what I've given you in the meantime. Why Vincent never had you doing this for him, I'll never know."

Closing his eyes for a moment as he sighed, the Wutain asked, "Just one week?" When he opened his eyes again, Verdot smiled and inclined his head. "...I'm not as sure of my ability as you seem to be, but...I'll try my best."

"You always do," the older Turk agreed, rising. "Until I return, this seat—and this office—is yours. Remember, you've spent the last three days doing all the things you would need to while I'm not here, and you did them well. Take the time to think about what skills will most be needed, and _listen_ to the same instinct which had you assign Sirra instead of Doriss to a mission which should have required tact. And remember, you'll never make the right decision one hundred percent of the time—none of us have such a sterling record. Accidents _will_ happen, no matter how hard you try to prevent them. Learn from them and try not to make the same mistake a second time—that's all you, or anyone, can do."

"Thank you," Tseng replied with a faint smile, realizing the man was right. "When are you leaving?"

"Soon, maybe about two hours. As such, I'm done in the office today, and the rest is up to you. Take care of yourself and my Hounds," Verdot told him, making his way around the desk towards the door. When he was beside the Wutain, he paused and reached up to grip the younger man's shoulder for a moment before leaving.

After a long pause, Tseng realized he felt weak in the knees, so carefully made his way to the executive chair behind the desk and slowly sat, feeling out of place and exhausted.

Really? Three days of training and he was being left to fend for himself with the Hounds for a _week_? He really didn't feel ready. At all.

Percia peeked in and blinked, then asked in amusement, "Why are you sitting in my dad's chair?"

Giving her an annoyed look, he replied, "Apparently, your father had an ulterior motive for wanting to train me in command just now—he's decided to take a week-long vacation and leave me in charge while he's away." He then sighed and shook his head as he added, "And apparently, every mission example I've worked on over the last three days has been a real mission the Hounds have done?"

"Too true. He didn't tell you?" Percia asked in amusement.

"...So all of you knew, and I was the only one he didn't tell that fact to until today?" Tseng asked her in pure confusion.

Cissnei suddenly pounced on Percia's back, producing a yelp from the Rookie, as she told Tseng, "He was making a point to the Hounds that you weren't going to try to screw with us. It basically worked out that he issued the order, we did it, came back, and found out he'd just passed on your decision. And you did really well—there were only a few small glitches for a first-timer and someone who doesn't have any reason to like us. Well, maybe you have a reason now."

"That's great, but could you get off my back, Cissnei?" Percia replied with a glare, looking over her shoulder at the fifteen-year-old Turk who had already been one for a year.

"Aw, but it's comfortable here!" Cissnei mock-pouted, struggling to keep a straight face. Percia huffed in annoyance as Tseng found he couldn't help but chuckle at their antics. They were honestly a lot more relaxed than he'd ever thought the Hounds would be—all of them, not just Percia, Cissnei, and Emma.

In fact, for the most part, they were just like the Guards, if a bit more on the suspicious end in general perspective. And they had a stronger adherence to the chain of command. They required a more stable work environment to get anything done than the Guards did, hence their use of the office...Though...didn't that mean Vincent had known the Hounds _needed_ the space, so had willingly given it to them? Tseng knew he could operate in either environment equally well, but most weren't quite so adaptable, even as Turks, who _relied_ on adaptability for their survival.

A very angry Sirra stalked in, shoving the two younger Turks out of the way as she did, then looked around the office in confusion before focusing on Tseng. "Where's Verdot?" she asked sharply.

"He decided to go on a week-long vacation," Tseng replied, still annoyed by that. "Unfortunately, he rather sprang that on me just now, as much as it's been sprung on you. Now, what's the problem?"

"He...went on vacation...after only three days training you?" she hissed. Tseng nodded, and she snarled, "That fucking moron! What does he think he's _doing_ ditching his own chosen replacement so soon?" The other three all blinked at her, but she gave her head a shake and said, "Fine, here's the data I managed to collect—it's not complete, and I need new orders. And for the record, I'm pretty sure Fuhito knows we're looking for him. Like, to go in for the kill." She then tossed several sheets of paper on the desk in front of the Wutain.

"...Aren't you supposed to be resting right now, Sirra?" Tseng asked her as he picked up the papers to read. This was only the second thing he'd sent her to do, the first having been the 'diplomatic' mission Verdot had mentioned he'd done the right thing with. It had turned out to be a trap Sirra was especially well-equipped to get out of with little to no harm, as the report had said. When he and Verdot had gotten a tip in regards to Fuhito, his first thought had been her, so she'd been sent out, and by all rights, she shouldn't have even been back yet, let alone at work, since she worked the night shift.

"Yeah, if there'd been something to find there," Sirra agreed. "That asshole _waited_—and I'm _sure_ it's 'waited', not coincidence—for me to be in view of the place, then blew it to kingdom come. There's nothing left, and nothing I can get my hands on with the Wutain patrols and Crescent Unit swarming the place."

Thoughtfully, Tseng quickly skimmed over the report, finding the important parts to get a good over-view of what had happened. With the detail in the report, he could see why Sirra thought Fuhito was effectively taunting them, and knowing what he did about the man didn't leave him with a good feeling. Something was wrong, very wrong. He remembered what Shears had said, and frowned in thought for another minute before putting down the papers and looking up at Sirra.

"Were you injured in the explosion?" he asked.

She blinked, then shrugged. "I wasn't close enough to be hurt beyond being knocked on my ass by the shock wave. No debris even made it that far."

"If you're right and he knows the Turks are looking for him, we've put ourselves in the position of being obstacles to his goals, and we don't actually know what those goals _are_ right now. Besides the fact that he has anti-Shinra terrorist tendencies. We also know he'll go to great lengths to get what he wants. It's not safe anymore for anyone to try going after him alone, so for now, your best bet is to get some rest. I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be seeing him here in Midgar soon, and I'd rather everyone be as ready as they can be—his laser weapon isn't something Restore Materia can heal well, if at all, so he's not someone we want to play around with," Tseng told her.

"...You're going to try baiting him?" Sirra blinked.

"Not baiting so much as following a trend. We've effectively already baited him, and he'll probably bite soon," the Wutain replied. His brow furrowed for a moment as he asked, "Derin is a hacker, isn't he? Good with wire taps, too?"

"He's got Verdot's code even for executive PHS's like ours," Cissnei filled in. "And yes, he can hack all the common lines and put taps on them. He just needs a high-powered computer, which usually means either he takes over our command center or he hijacks one of Reeve's. Why?"

"Fuhito has to be communicating with someone in Shinra to know we've focused our search on him, so monitoring those communications will be our best option to find out who he's getting his data from and what his plans are," Tseng answered. "If he uses the command center, does it interfere with anything else?" Cissnei moved back to the door and called the man in question into the room, so Tseng explained what he wanted directly to him.

Derin thought for a few minutes before finally saying, "My work shouldn't interfere with anything else going on in the center, as long as everyone knows not to touch my monitoring station. You're probably right to say someone on the inside is feeding him data, and probably funds. The easiest way to get him to bite is to take away his source of information and funds, but that's going to require twenty-four-seven monitoring until we know who the traitor is. Unfortunately, that kind of monitoring will require Guard cooperation, because the other two who can do this kind of data crunching in mass quantities and keep the system running are both Guards."

"Eonna and Ansha," Tseng immediately said, and Derin nodded. Cissnei gave them a worried look as Sirra sneered, but no one said anything. "Since they're also working on this mission, Vincent may be willing to have them work two shifts around your usual day shift. If not, we'll work something else out."

His mind then stalled as he realized he was thinking from the perspective of a Hound, not a Guard. Both sides felt equally natural to him, but right then, he was actively responsible for the Hounds, so he was thinking of himself as one. Up until that point, he'd never have thought such a huge re-write of his own perspective and place in the Turks was possible. By the amused expressions on the other four Turks' faces, he realized they had noted the same thing he had just discovered—he actually was equal parts Hound and Guard. And he wouldn't betray whichever side he was responsible for at the time.

When his mind finished processing that, he jumped back to the point in question and went on with his plans for monitoring. "The other thing we'll need to do is set up more cameras so it's a lot harder for someone like him to move around without being seen somewhere. We can also have feeds from other existing cameras in the city transfer to us here, can't we?"

With a nod, Derin agreed, "That's possible. Harder in the Slums, but possible. It'll still leave holes, but not as many as we have now. I can re-route the feeds from pretty much all other cameras in the city, but planting more of them without being seen will be made more complicated by the fact that people won't like the idea of those cameras being there. Some places, we can't put them at all, unless you want to get permission from President Shinra."

"We'll stick to putting them where we can, but that will wait until the other monitoring we definitely have available is active," Tseng said. "I should be able to let you know tomorrow if we have support from the Guards for that, and we'll work from there. And Sirra, I _did_ mean you should rest—since you're back, I'll have another mission for you this evening for your shift."

"Fine," she agreed, then left.

"I'll start prepping some things I'll need, if that's fine by you?" Derin asked.

"Whatever you need to do—with or without help, we're going to have to keep an eye out for Fuhito, so it still has to be done," Tseng agreed. He nodded and left as well. The Wutain then looked at the other two Turks, Percia and Cissnei, and told them, "You'll have new assignments soon, so anything you two are working on, you'd better finish up as much as you can now."

"Right!" Cissnei gaped, then bolted from the room, even as a curse came from Lakis in the main room. "Oops, sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Tseng heard the younger Turk apologize profusely, causing him to quirk a brow as Percia chuckled.

"Did you need something, Percia?" Tseng asked.

"...Have you _really_ switched sides?" she asked quietly.

With a small sigh, he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "Apparently, I transition automatically between them, given the chance. Whether I've 'switched' sides or not, I can't tell you right now. I guess, when I go talk to Vincent later, I'll be finding out if this will be...very literally permanent, but—I honestly think I'd rather stay transitional if it's possible. I have people on both sides of the divide I'd rather not have to be at odds with."

"That's going to be really rough. Both sides will doubt your loyalty," the younger Turk pointed out, gaze worried.

He inclined his head in recognition. "Some will. But, if I'm needed to command the Hounds, I _will_ put you here first, not the Guards—as far as that goes, it's _exactly because_ I'm responsible for your lives that I won't mess around with that. I think you've already seen proof of my desire to keep you all alive and well."

"Despite the bad blood from the past?"

"Which applies both ways. Everyone knows that. Only time will tell how things go from here, but since this position of command is unique to the Hounds, it doesn't actually interfere with my regular work for the Guards, so I don't see a problem so far."

Percia was quiet for a long minute, then gave a nod and said, "Good luck, then. I'll be out tomorrow collecting data. Did my father already give you the cash for Shears and his men?"

"He did," Tseng agreed. "You can collect it in the morning."

"Will do," she agreed, giving him a wave and leaving.

For the next several hours, Tseng had a lot of work to do to keep him busy, but every time he did something, he wanted so badly to have someone—Verdot especially—check his work to make sure he hadn't missed something. As things stood, however, all he could do was make his decision and hope for the best, with only the fact that Verdot hadn't had much to say about his mission assignments to push him to actually make those decisions. He was on-edge, stressed as Hellfire, and more than ready for a break by the time he'd given out the evening shift missions, but realized his day wasn't done yet. And, as long as he was the acting Second in Command of the Turks, he was on call, both for any Hounds on missions and for any incidences Lady Shinra or Vincent needed the commander of the Hounds for. Though, the latter was especially rare.

Finally, he was able to leave the office and head for his next destination, but on his way, his steps faltered and he found himself heading towards Kariya's apartment, hoping to visit with Auryn—he'd been remiss in not making that effort for the last three days. In his defense, he hadn't been sure what kind of reception he'd get, and Verdot had barely given him time to pee, let alone visit the blond boy. Outside the door, he stopped and just stood there, nearly as uncertain as he'd been when Verdot had suddenly announced his pending departure and Tseng's new position.

"Tseng?" his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice behind him, making him spin to see Vincent, who was gazing at him worriedly. "Where have you _been_ for the last three days?"

For a long moment, the younger Turk just stared at the older, then swallowed and said, "I'd rather not discuss that in the middle of a public hall."

Vincent eyed him for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then knock on the door. I'm surprised you hadn't already by the time I got here."

Turning back to the door, Tseng knocked—only for it to be yanked open a few moments later. Before he could register more than that, he found himself being hugged tightly, and it took another few moments to realize the one hugging him was Kariya. He was puzzled by how the man knew it was him, and by how—exuberant?—the greeting was. Yes, once Tseng had gotten used to the idea that the man wasn't the Death God of the Battlefield anymore, they'd gotten fairly close, but he hadn't known Kariya felt so strongly towards him to greet him in such a way.

When the older man drew back to look at him, he gave an amused smile and said, "You have a rather distinctive knock, Tseng. Well, what are you waiting for? In!" All the Wutain could do was blink in surprise as he was ushered into the main room, noting how Auryn sat at the table with a mostly empty plate of food in front of him, and there was a half-full plate across from the blond. An amused Vincent followed him in and shut the door.

"So, where have you been?" Vincent asked as Kariya tried to pull Tseng over to the table—only for the younger man to resist.

It wasn't that Tseng didn't want to join them like he usually would have, but he wasn't really sure he should be—or whether he'd even still be welcome—especially with what he now had to tell Vincent. As such, he turned back to the Director of the Turks and said, "I was with the Hounds in their office."

Vincent's brows rose as a long silence fell, then Auryn surprised everyone by saying, "I think you'd better do better than that, especially since I know from Doriss that you're learning command from Verdot, and doing it very well for someone who has only had the chance to observe before now. Besides, in every previous timeline, it was Verdot who taught you command, so I'm not surprised he would now."

The others all turned to face him as he picked at what was left on his plate, Tseng caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to shake his head at the blond's open interjection. Since Auryn had already brought it up, Tseng turned back to Vincent, gaze searching the other man's. When he saw only puzzlement, he said, "It's true. After I left here the day you—accused me of falsifying data, I ran into Lakis and ended up with the Hounds. Verdot invited me to learn command. And earlier today, he ditched me with them, quite literally, for a week, so I'm now acting Second of the Turks and the Hounds' temporary leader. I'm actually still working right now, because Sirra had a very interesting experience with what we know to be one of AVALANCHE's bases."

He'd thought there would be some sort of negative reaction to the words, but when Vincent looked vaguely amused, he realized something wasn't adding up. The older man said, "First, I need to apologize for my behavior that day—it was unwarranted, no matter _how_ tired I was then." He made a dismissing motion, then said, "Tseng, I would actually prefer you start learning command from Verdot than from me, because his position is a lot less stressful than mine, and you're having trouble just with _his_ regular requirements. Since we had both accepted you as the next to fill either role, this would have had to happen eventually, and this saved me the trouble of trying to convince him to train you, ironically enough. What about Fuhito, and why is this 'still working'?"

It took Tseng several moments—and blinks—as he processed the words to realize he still had the feeling of something not adding up. When he turned his head to look at Kariya and Auryn, the former was giving Vincent an annoyed look and Auryn looked exasperated.

That was when it hit him—

He'd been set up!

Tseng actually swayed for a moment before managing to stumble over to the couch and sitting hard, staring at Vincent in shock. "You _rat bastard_! You set me up! All of that was just a—a _huge lie_ to get me to—to go over to the Hounds! _Why_?"

"Told you so," Auryn sighed as Vincent blinked at Tseng's furious tirade.

"You aren't helping right now, Auryn," Vincent commented dryly.

"I didn't need to. He figured it out himself, and you dug your own grave by not letting him know sooner. Or even before you did it," Auryn replied, though all of them saw him flinch slightly more than once as he spoke.

After a long silence, Tseng asked warily, "So did you set me up to spy?"

"No," Vincent replied, looking both wan and amused. "I 'set you up' to see the reality of who the Hounds are so you wouldn't work against them if something happened to Verdot and you suddenly got shoved into the role of Second. On the same token, now that the Hounds know you, realize you aren't an enemy, if you're ever truly given such a position rather than taking over mine, they'll be comfortable taking orders from you. If it's Verdot who goes first, you _will_ have to represent the Hounds to both President and Lady Shinra, so this was necessary for our basic functionality at this time. In the meantime, I expect you to use your better judgment and only share something of the Hounds' with me if you really feel there's no other option."

Honestly, Tseng had no idea how he should react to the explanation, but when his stomach rumbled hungrily—producing chuckles from the others in the room, even Auryn—he blushed and let Kariya propel him up and to the table so he could eat.


	28. 27-Planning Session

Planning Session

Silence had fallen after Tseng had explained the situation with Fuhito to Vincent, Kariya, and Auryn, about an hour after he'd gotten to Kariya's. Vincent was pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly, Kariya looked alarmed, and Auryn had curled in on himself as he trembled. The last wasn't a good sign, so Tseng tentatively reached out and rested a hand on Auryn's shoulder, resulting in a start before the blond forced himself to relax.

"So, Derin is already starting work on a monitoring network, and you'd like Ansha and Eonna to help with it," Vincent mused finally. "I agree that Fuhito has to have someone on the inside helping him, someone who knows our plans, our missions. There are a limited number of people who know, and those people are limited to Heidegger, Lady Shinra, and the Turks themselves, and—that's it. Other than specific individuals who have made requests of us, so know the requests they've made."

"Deepground," Auryn offered quietly.

Silence fell again, then Vincent asked, "Did they ever work together before in any of your scenarios?"

Shaking his head a bit, the blond replied, "Not that I know of. I can't exclude the possibility, though. Usually, it would be Rufus funding them, but that was without him having Lady Shinra's influence during his young adulthood. I don't think he'd have any reason to fund a terrorist group with things the way they are now. But, there could be another option, someone skilled with hacking—I knew a few people with those skills, and one of them, or someone I hadn't encountered before, may have a reason to help terrorists. It's not like Reeve and Shelke are the only people in the world who have SND, and it doesn't even take SND to be good at hacking. I can't see Heidegger doing it if it would mean working with a Wutain—he has a notable hatred for them."

The others all just stared at him in shock for a minute, causing him more fear than he already felt after saying so much. When they said nothing, and nothing changed—even Tseng's hand stayed gently on his shoulder—he remembered to practice the breathing exercises to calm himself down. It left only a lingering fear, but he was able to straighten again after a few minutes, seeing how they all looked worried about him. When they saw him lucid, Vincent gave him a small nod, clearly of approval.

"Could someone from outside Shinra actually hack our system?" Tseng asked.

"Why couldn't they?" Auryn asked in confusion. "If there's one thing humans are, it's dangerously creative. Combine that with a desire to achieve something, and humans will find a way to do it, no matter what they're up against. Setting up security systems in computer networks becomes a challenge to anyone with the inclination to try going up against it, and most people like a challenge. On top of that, I've found most people—most men, anyway—live by the motto 'rules are made to be broken.' You're shooting yourselves in the foot by having open data networks in the _first_ place, especially when you factor in SND."

"What about Fuhito's current behavior? What can we expect from him?" Vincent asked with a small frown, gaze towards the balcony doors.

With a deep sigh, Auryn rubbed his face, then said, "He's a tactician—that's actually his primary skill. His scientific experimentation is secondary, though still dangerous, depending on what kind of data he has access to. He's just as likely to use unwilling subjects as willing ones, and...I don't think he's 'sadistic', he _just doesn't care_ because he has no empathy for other living things. At all. He'll use anything he can to his advantage, set traps, bait people, use underhanded means of getting what he wants. Because he now doesn't have either Felicia or Shears as a counter-check, I have no idea if, or who, would be helping him now, but he's not picky because his ultimate plan is to destroy all life on the Planet. Yes, even knowing he'll die, too. That reminds me—we need to find the shards of Zirconaide before he gets his hands on more than the one he already has."

"Zirconaide?" Vincent and Tseng echoed in puzzled apprehension as Kariya frowned in partial recognition and partial confusion.

There was a long silence before Auryn asked Vincent tentatively, "Do you—know where Chaos is right now?"

"Yes—I'm housing him. When you said I was 'undead' in those scenarios, I wondered how that would be possible, but what does Chaos have to do with Zirconaide?" the older, black haired Turk asked.

"...Do you communicate with Chaos at all, or do you—take him as a non-sentient beast?" Auryn asked, rather than answer the question.

"I talk with him when he's in the mood to talk. Right now, he's sleeping, and doesn't seem inclined to wake anytime soon," Vincent offered. "Given what Chaos _is_, I take that as a good sign indicating the state of the world."

"Yeah," the blond agreed. "Zirconaide is just the next level down from Chaos, and was created to 'maintain' populations so they don't get too large and over-run the Planet. Because his Materia was shattered—by humans—he's not actually sane right now, and it would be all too easy for him to just obliterate everything rather than doing the maintenance he's supposed to. In most other timelines where I dealt with Felicia or Zirconaide, Felicia had one of the shards embedded in her arm, and the best option ended up being to merge them, giving her the power to keep Zirconaide from getting out of hand. This time, she doesn't have a shard embedded in her arm, leaving us to try to get Zirconaide to just not create the apocalypse once his shards are reunited."

When the other three gaped at him in shocked horror, he ducked his head to stare down at his clenched hands, trembling. He'd really said a lot more than he'd been intending, leaving him a sensation of 'what the Hell?' Then he heard Minerva chiding him for almost refusing to share something the others needed to know and he realized she had somehow over-ridden his fear to make him speak. Well, wasn't _that_ just going to be annoying if she was going to keep doing such things...?

Vincent cleared his throat and asked, "And Fuhito knows about Zirconaide and the shards, and he's after them?"

Before Auryn could answer, there was a knock on the door and everyone blinked, then Kariya rose to open it. They heard Lucrecia's voice say, "Hello, Kariya. Can I have a moment with Auryn?"

"What for?" Kariya blinked in surprise, backing up to let her in, then closing the door behind her.

She took a quick look around the room, sending Vincent a questioning look when she saw him there, but he just made a dismissing motion with one hand. "Well, it saves me time if you're here right now, Vincent," she commented dryly.

"It does?" the man asked in bemusement.

She gave him a nod, then faced Auryn and said, "I've finally got the first round of genetic therapy assessed and arranged, with Gast also helping to make sure we'd get the necessary results—to balance the manic states you keep experiencing. The one which will be easiest for you for this part will be to get it done fast. I need three days to complete the process, during which you'll be asleep while Gast, myself, Rayleigh, and a few of my trusted assistants work in shifts until it's done. We aren't entirely sure what the final result will be until we do it, but we're sure it will go a long way towards stabilizing you. I was hoping to start the day after tomorrow. Questions?"

"Uh..." the blond blinked and stared at her in shock for a moment. "Will anyone else be there?"

Her brow quirked. "Do you want someone to be?"

After a long silence, Auryn asked, "Where will you be doing it? Here or at your office in the city?" Geez, he was taking a long time to process things today...

"Here. Unfortunately, my city office isn't equipped with all the facilities and equipment I need to do it. On the other hand, most of Hojo's staff and Hojo himself are due to be away at his other labs outside Midgar for the next week, or two if we're lucky, so we shouldn't have any interference," the Doctor explained.

Auryn wasn't so sure no one would interfere, and he had a very limited number of people he trusted to guard him during the process. Being asleep for three days meant quite literally anyone could do anything to him, and he'd never know beyond phantom pain or something 'not quite right' about his body after he woke up. Then he had another thought, something which had happened a few times in other dimensions.

"If the power goes out while you're in the middle of it, what then?" he asked worriedly. All previous times had either put him in a world of hurt for weeks afterwards or killed him, so it was a valid fear.

"The Shinra building operating rooms all have completely independent power supplies which will activate if the main building power goes out, and last for about three days—long enough for us to finish," the woman told him with a small nod. "No, you don't need to worry about harm coming to you due to a power outage."

"At least that's one thing," he sighed faintly, looking away. "But I'm still not sure there won't be any interference from someone, and I have a very small list of people I trust to guard me while I'm unconscious. They aren't all Guards, either."

"Doriss is one," Vincent said immediately. "Kariya also. Who else?"

"Aim for six, arranged in three pairs to match our shifts. I made sure each shift would have eight hours on and sixteen off to recover—with how intensive this will be, we'll need the time off to be prepared to work again. It won't do for the ones you choose as guards to get too bored by themselves for an eight hour shift, though," the woman said bluntly.

"Cissnei and Sirra are actually possible as well," Kariya told them, making Tseng, Vincent, and Lucrecia all blink at him in surprise.

"They generally weren't torturers," Auryn offered softly. "Cissnei is too kind-hearted to agree to something which doesn't really accomplish anything. Sirra may have a nasty personality in general, but she doesn't do anything unless she's 'getting something out of it', and she feels she gets nothing out of torture. Especially if the potential victim did nothing to her directly. Otherwise, your options are people I don't know from before, which is most of the longest-running Turks, ones who joined—and normally also died—before Tseng joined. Not Rude, Maur, Balto, and Judet, though."

They all stared at him again before Vincent commented, "We'll need at least two Hounds, then, but no real way to ask for their help."

"Seriously?" Tseng asked in amusement, shaking his head. "This one is actually a rather simple solution. I need Ansha and Eonna for monitoring, and you need at least two Hounds for guard duty on Auryn. I could offer three for three days, since Ansha and Eonna will put in more work over a longer time, but otherwise, the exchange is valid and would be taken as such by both sides. I'm shocked you didn't realize it right away."

"What?" Lucrecia asked in confusion as Kariya snorted and Vincent's brow rose.

"You certainly _have_ learned a lot in three days if you took _that_ as 'simple'," Vincent commented to the younger man, but he was smiling. "You beat me to it—and saved us all some time—but we'd have come out to the same solution by the end of the day, regardless. In that case, since Auryn is obviously fine with Cissnei and Sirra, and we know Doriss is mother lion-ing him, those three are the best Hounds for guard duty. I also know Kariya and Doriss get along well enough to work together for one shift, but we'll keep Cissnei and Sirra as one pair. On our end, Verde and Lenno are probably the best ones for guard duty, since the others are otherwise occupied. When do you want me to send over Ansha and Eonna?"

"As soon as possible—tomorrow morning, even. Derin's already working in the command center, and I'm fine having the three of them work out how best to do what they need to. Since they're all after Fuhito, the battle line shouldn't be so prominent. What do I need to tell Sirra, Cissnei, and Doriss about their shifts on guard duty?" the Wutain Turk asked in reply, though his gaze was on Lucrecia.

She sighed faintly, but thought for a moment before giving a small nod and telling him, "The first shift will be Gast's, from nine to five starting the day after tomorrow. I'd rather he have the two Guards. Most of the Hounds know and get along with Rayleigh, so they can have her shift, from five to one. I'll take Doriss and Kariya from one to nine in the morning—I also think that will be best for Auryn to wake up to. Everyone will need to have any refreshments they'll want because they won't be able to leave for eight hours. Well, they can likely manage bathroom breaks if they're at opposite times, but that's about it. Each pair will show up three times, though Doriss and Kariya will stay longer on their final shift. Otherwise, it should be like any other guard duty."

"That should be fine for us, then." Tseng then paused and turned to Auryn, who was staring at his hands and had been for awhile. "You're doing it again, Auryn," he said dryly.

"Doing what?" the blond asked quietly, still staring at his hands.

"Saying nothing, whether you agree or not," the Wutain answered pointedly.

With a small shrug, Auryn pointed out, "Whether I agree or not, this is already arranged, and changing it is not really possible if we want to avoid Hojo. Which we do."

"If you're not comfortable with the people we chose, we can still change them, though," Kariya pointed out.

For some reason, the words annoyed Auryn, causing him to huff a small breath and say, "What am I supposed to say when I barely know half the people you picked, and can't really choose others I know because I don't trust most of them anymore? I'm not saying anything because I really don't have anything to say about them. Cissnei, Doriss, and you are fine—I don't have many, if any, bad memories with any of you. Sirra I didn't know especially well, but for what I know, she fits in the same category. Verde wasn't much of an issue for me, but I've only seen him a few times for pretty short times. I've 'seen' Lenno a couple times—he's a complete blank and all I can do is see how things go. That's it. I can't add any more. Did you ever think that sometimes I say nothing because I really don't have anything to add?"

Everyone stared at him in surprise, causing him to realize what he'd just done—something he should know better than to do by then—and sending him into an almost instant panic attack as he expected them to lash out. Because Tseng was sitting beside him, he'd have been the first to strike, and his mind began flashing through images of the things the Wutain had used as torture techniques in previous dimensions. Needles, hot wax, matches, various acids, poison, ropes, chains, blades, and some of the worst—

The images cut off by force as his mind went still with the now-familiar sensation of the tranquilizer running through his system. As his shoulders relaxed, he heard Lucrecia say, "This is another reason we can't wait—we _need_ this to stop happening to such an extreme. Ifalna could only do so much for him, but she's not a miracle worker, and he's still going to have difficulty with anxiety and panic for some time, even after he stops going into an unreachable state like this."

"What happens if it doesn't stop soon?" Vincent asked, his tone both worried and thoughtful.

"Vincent, do you remember a few years back when I told you the body and mind could only handle so much stress before giving out?" she asked, sounding annoyed. "I wasn't joking or exaggerating. If his body can't handle the stress, the first thing to go will be his heart, and if his mind can't—he'll end up little better than a vegetable or a babbling idiot. Every time these extremes happen, it's one more tick his body can't quite repair, and the only reason he's lasted so long is his Mako blood. And whether you like it or not, even Mako blood can't keep completely fixing a highly stressed body indefinitely, just longer than normal. That's why I've given him the metal and mineral supplements—the Mako can only keep him healthy for so long before it just _can't_ anymore, so his body _needs_ to be able to do it naturally or through means not the Mako."

Silence fell for a minute before Kariya asked slowly, "So if he wasn't really bothered by us making the plans without asking for his input, what _was_ he upset about?"

"I don't like things being sprung on me with little or no warning, since I don't have time to prepare then," Auryn muttered, still wrapped in a ball on his chair at the table. He really didn't have the strength to move right then, and wondered if they'd even hear him while he was talking into his knees.

A startled pause followed, then Lucrecia asked, "So what counts as something not being sprung on you?"

Auryn had to take a few minutes to think about the question, since he'd never had to define it before. Finally, he managed to assess, "About a week before...or longer...I think. Anything less...like four days only...is too close to the time..."

"In this case, I couldn't tell you any sooner, because I only just found out about Hojo's departure when he didn't come in to work today, and only finalized my plans and got the preparations started a few hours ago," Lucrecia informed him in a dry tone. "Whether you like it or not, sometimes tight schedules and short prep times are just unavoidable. You'll need to start accepting that if you want to be a functional human being again, even _after_ the operation."

The blond just shrugged, so Vincent asked, "Was there anything else you needed, Lucrecia?"

"No. Put him to bed soon so he can rest, and I'll see you again before the operation starts to make sure everything's ready," the woman said, and Auryn heard an exchange of farewells before the sound of the door opening and closing reached him.

A pause followed, then Vincent said, "As much as I don't really like to do this while you're in this state, Auryn, I still need you to finish telling us what you can about Fuhito. We left off with him actively looking for the shards of Zirconaide. Is he?"

"Yes. He always has been, in every one of them," Auryn agreed shakily.

Tseng commented, "But then we run into the problem of someone in Shinra mis-using them, which is just as bad."

"I don't think so, not if my suspicion is on the mark," Vincent said with a shake of his head. "I'll have to check with Lady Shinra first, but in the meantime, Fuhito is a top priority, for all Shinra combat personnel."

"He's really good at evasion, and you're best to have orders in place for no one to go after him alone. He's _way_ too dangerous, sort of like a cross between Hojo at his worst and the Death God of the Battlefield in his prime," Auryn offered softly. Kariya cursed softly, so the blond added, "Also, he has bases all over the world."

"How many of them do you know? Can you tell us where they are?" the Director of the Turks asked, the tone intent and thoughtful.

To assess the question, Auryn found himself struggling to focus (likely due to the drug in his system), and began listing the ones he knew about as they managed to reach his active thoughts. "Their base here was the Seventh Heaven bar in the Sector Seven Slums...but I'm not sure if that was Felicia's doing or his...There was one in the Corel Mountains, in the caves and mines around the pending Reactor site...In Corel, he sometimes used their stores as a base...One was in a...den? Cave?—outside of Gongaga...One in Junon was small, a sort-of basement under a warehouse by Dock Four...He had more than one in Wutai...but the main one, the one I knew about...was in the capital, a pagoda near the Statue...And...There's one north of Icicle Inn, down some paths which had once been used for logging, but were later abandoned...If he's actually there or the facility is just waiting to be used, I don't know, but it definitely exists now...Oh, and Cosmo Canyon, but that's...not necessarily willing."

"Not necessarily willing?" Vincent repeated, frowning.

"Normally, Cosmo Canyon likes Wutain visitors, so they don't think much about them," Auryn pointed out. "But if this timeline is anything like the others, Fuhito is playing the town's Elder to get information about Zirconaide from him, amongst other things. In the end, if Fuhito has the chance, he'll have his people take over the town by force. Since they're pacifists, they don't have any defense against AVALANCHE. And there's also a chance this Fuhito will go off the deep end and get a bunch of Wutai's military to help his group launch an attack directly on Midgar."

Two heavy sighs reached him, then Tseng said, "Monitoring is definitely not optional if the last has any chance of happening, and we know about half of the Wutain army is displeased with the truce state. Only now we need to add monitoring for large numbers of Wutains entering the city."

"Assuming you can _see_ them when they frequently use Mirage Materia for the Invis spell," Auryn sighed. "And do so if they plan on infiltration."

"We _do_ have ways to prevent that, as long as we know we need to instate them," Vincent commented in an assuring tone. "Derin, Ansha, and Eonna should all be aware of them, and can set them up as long as they know they need to. Thank you, Auryn. You've been a huge help to us. Kariya, get him to his room so he can rest. I think Tseng and I can move elsewhere to discuss anything else we need to. Though, I hope you'll be visiting Auryn again tomorrow, Tseng?"

"I will. The last three days have been—extremely busy, though, and I was lucky to have time for bathroom breaks and six hours of sleep at night," Tseng answered dryly. "Now that Verdot's away for a week, my hours should run on his usual schedule, unless something comes up which requires my attention during off hours."

"Good," Vincent agreed. "Come, then." Again, Auryn heard farewells exchanged, then the door opening and closing.

Kariya heaved a sigh, then said, "Well, things are definitely never dull with you here, Auryn." Since he sounded vaguely amused, Auryn didn't reply, but made an effort to look up when the older man rested a hand on his shoulder. When he was mostly looking at Kariya, the man said, "You'll get there. You've done more than enough digging through your past for today, so how about I pull out a special book and read to you to distract you until you fall asleep?"

"...Read to me? Really?" the blond asked in vague bemusement.

"When was the last time someone did?" the Turk asked curiously, reaching forward and gathering Auryn into his arms to carry him to his room.

"Mmm...Probably...back when I was seven...before my mom died...Feels so long ago now..." Auryn mumbled, too tired to protest being carried. Soon after, it was moot, because the man was laying him down on his bed and pulling the covers over him.

"In that case, it's been far too long," Kariya informed him, then left the room for a few moments. When he returned, he had a book of short stories in one hand. He quickly pulled a seat over and flipped open the book to say, "Let's start with the Tale of the Ghost Tree."

At first, Auryn just felt strange as he listened to the man read to him, but after a bit, he found himself being drawn into the short stories, and only heard two before falling asleep, as much naturally relaxed as he was drugged.


	29. 28-Shocking Result

Shocking Result

The last four days had been hectic.

Turks were scrambling to fulfill orders, on both sides of the battle line, and many were working double shifts to try to account for everything they needed to. In that regard, the six assigned to guard duty on Auryn for the operation were the ones who were the least stressed, and who got some actual down-time. The three high-end tech people were working together like well-oiled gears, in and out in a definite pattern as they arranged what they needed to, leaving nearly all the Turks wondering if they even actually cared about the divide. Even Percia was twice as busy when she wasn't out data collecting.

Auryn had only been given one day to prepare for the pending three days of sleep, and arrived with Vincent and Kariya feeling uncertain and rapidly approaching panic. Verde and Lenno were both already there, and after that, he didn't remember anything until he woke. In the meantime, the Doctors and their assistants' shifts changed, and the guards' shifts changed, nine times before the whole operation was done.

In the process of the genetic therapy operation, however, Lucrecia and her team had to take a couple minutes to pause and stare at what had just happened. They were on the last stretch at that point, with six hours of work left to do, when the sudden change had happened. Without Gast's warning of something in the genetics activating, it would likely have taken much longer than 'a few minutes' for them to get over the change and keep working, but it also meant more work needed to be done once they had finished the actual operation.

After taking a couple minutes to tell Doriss and Kariya that it would take longer before they woke Auryn due to unexpected results, Lucrecia then had to go back over the blond teen's body (both physical and genetic) with a fine-tooth comb to find all the changes. Some, she wouldn't have the results of until a few days later, but others, she could get right away, and she ran every kind of test she could think of, including x-rays, ultrasounds, and CAT's. Once she had as much data as she could currently gather and was waiting on the results of the rest, she used the anesthetic's counter-drug to wake the blond, bracing herself for what she'd have to explain to him now.

FoWD

Auryn returned to awareness slowly, just drifting for some time between sleep and waking. There was a very happy sense from Minerva, and even from the Lifestream in general, which immediately made him think of Carbuncle or Libby wiggling their ears in joy. From that, he became aware of his rather calm mental state—he was no longer perpetually imagining the worst which could happen, and right then, he wasn't actually even thinking about much at all. It was more like he was just letting his mind rest while listening to the good cheer from the Lifestream. Finally, he realized he was capable of whole and proper thought again—his thought patterns had returned to what they had been when he'd first arrived on Gaia!

His body felt languid, he realized, as he tried to move to open his eyes and sit up. Not the kind of 'languid' which came from relaxation, heat, or satisfied exhaustion, but the kind which came from a drug. A sense of being displaced came to him once he actively focused on the physical world around him, though since he'd been scheduled to sleep for three days, he would have been surprised if he _didn't_ feel that way upon waking. No, there was more, and his body felt—_off_ somehow.

It wasn't the kind of 'not right' he'd been thinking about before, which would have been more intangible than tangible. Rather, he was feeling muscles twitching in places he shouldn't have had muscles _to twitch_, his physical senses seemed overloaded (well, his sense of smell, at least, though his eyes were also more light-sensitive, even closed), and he was laying on two hard things at his shoulder blades—and they were starting to hurt. Those were all physical things he could perceive without sight or movement. He also seemed to have some sort of vibration-based sense telling him there was one person in the room with him, not too far away, but somehow non-threatening. Coming from...his cheeks?

Confusion set in, causing him to curl the fingers of one hand in frustration—only to freeze as the action resulted in a semi-screeching and semi-tearing sound from the hard table he lay on.

"I suppose that means you're awake now, yes, Auryn?" Lucrecia's familiar voice commented.

He made a sound like a half-grumble, half-mutter, not able to do much else as he focused on her and ended up with another overload of data he should not have been getting. It was one thing to say an operating room smelled—strongly—of disinfectants and cleaners, but another to focus on a human being and be able to smell everything from their personal scent to their emotional state. How did a person _smell_ an emotional state? In her case, the smell reminded him of apprehension, exhaustion, resignation, and a bit of happiness, leaving him puzzled, and while he could faintly smell what he assumed was her body's natural scent, it was mostly covered by strong disinfectants and shea butter soap.

Speaking of scents, there was a definite scent of cat and bird in the room, very close to him and merging with his own, personal scent.

"Well, as far as the purpose of this, so far the results look promising for success," the Doctor said after a moment of silence, interrupting his thoughts and assessments. He focused on her voice again as she kept speaking. "However, in the last stretch of the process, we had a very—unusual result, in many ways. I don't know all the details, but I'm doing everything I can to find out, and I can tell you some things now. You'll want to brace yourself, though."

His brow furrowed faintly as he struggled to open his eyes, but managed to ask, with a tongue which suddenly didn't work quite right and felt a little like Velcro, "Why?"

Sighing softly, the woman replied, "At least you can speak as you are now." His brow furrowed again, but she went on, "We had to introduce some griffin genetics into your body, and had pretty much already known the male ones wouldn't work, so had planned to introduce female ones as well. We had hoped the male ones would surprise us and do what they needed to, but sadly, that didn't work out, not even after the introduction of some cell samples from a few people we know are cross-sexual. It was as we were in the final stage of cell stimulation prompting merging and adaptability when your body decided it was going to 'adapt' however it wanted, and we had no say in the matter. Admittedly, both Gast and Rayleigh had reported to my team that your genetics were activating in unusual ways, but...The result was something of a surprise for _us_, too."

"What...result?" Auryn asked, feeling suddenly alarmed. His eyes finally opened—only for him to have to shut them again as he found the ceiling and light in the room to be excruciating to his eyes. Wait, had he been able to pick out _bits of dust_ stuck to the ceiling in that brief glance?

"I've turned down the light as much as I can and still be able to see. I suspect it's still too bright for you until you adapt." He gave a small noise of affirmation, so she said, "That would be because you now have eyes as sharp as any raptor's, or basically—they've become equivalent to high-powered telescopes. That's one of the least noticeable and least disruptive changes, though. Right now, you somewhat look like what I gather a predominantly cat-like humanoid gryphon would look like—fur, feathers, wings, tail, claws, and all. Your ears are still in the same place, but pointed like a cat's, your hair is filling the role of a mane with feathers, and you have a rather large wingspan. Combined with the fact that you already had hollow, bird-like bones, it's rather obvious one of your new abilities is flight. The design of the tail would support that as well, since it looks like it would be a very effective rudder."

Auryn froze in shock and began to practice the breathing techniques Tseng had taught him. He looked like a—a _chimera_? If he'd believed in 'God', he'd have been praying for everything to be someone's bad idea of a joke, but he didn't believe in any 'God', despite knowing and accepting that Minerva, as a planetary sentience, was real.

"Unfortunately, more changed than just that." His mind went still and tense, waiting for her to go on. Finally, she did with the words, "You already had some genes of both genders in you, but now, some of the female features seem to be...visible. Your body is more androgynous than it had been, and now has most of the female reproductive system, though the lack of ova makes the system largely non-functional. That isn't to say you aren't capable of carrying a child, it just means a doctor or scientist would have to implant an embryo into your body for it to take, because you can't become pregnant any other way. On the other hand, your male parts still work like normal. I suppose the one good thing I first checked for in your initial blood-work results is that you show the genetic coding for transformation—shapeshifting. The same coding as Vincent has, in fact. As a result, you should be able to transform at will, which also assumes you have a standard human form to revert to."

"How?" he asked, focusing on his potential ability to become human again rather than anything else she'd said.

"From what Vincent has told me, it's mainly just having a clear image in your mind of what you look like and wishing to be in that form. There isn't actually a 'scientific' method to it, and right now, we don't really know if your human form will have any changes. I think it would get the idea by you wishing to be back in the form you last saw yourself in, though."

Drawing in several more deep breaths to calm himself as much as possible, Auryn then gave a nod and focused on his appearance the last time he'd looked in a mirror. He felt energy—Lifestream energy—surge through his body, and suddenly felt lighter and less strained. Most of the strange twitches stopped, his ears weren't overloading him with sounds, and his cheeks stopped trembling with vibrations around him. His nose also wasn't picking up nearly the amount of smells, and the hard things he'd been laying on—likely his wings—weren't there anymore, causing the mild pain to stop. However, when he tried opening his eyes again, he found he had to shut them immediately—they hadn't changed.

His defeated sigh was interrupted by Lucrecia saying, "Oh my, there _are_ some changes to your human form as well. They aren't nearly as prominent as they could have been, but for someone who knows to look, they're visible. I don't think your appearance will change much from this point forward."

"Why? What do you mean?" the blond asked apprehensively.

"Speaking as a doctor, I'm fairly certain your female parts are attached to your human body, Auryn, and I need to check their health—and _we_ need to know if they function the same way as the ones your other form has. I'm guessing, like with your bones and joints, your eyes are now just the telescopic version?"

"Yeah, I think so..." he agreed with a faint sigh, then became apprehensive about his new 'parts'. "...What do you have to do to check me for those...traits?"

"Some parts are physical, but others I'll have to do with other methods, including an ultrasound. The one you'll likely dislike the most will be the physical one—it entails me putting my fingers in those parts to feel where they're sitting. Even most women don't especially 'like' it, but often prefer to have a woman doing it rather than a man. If you'd like me to ask Gast to do it, I can, we'll just have to wait for him to get back."

And people wondered why he didn't like doctors...

Still, so far, Lucrecia's track record had been as good as her word, so it was probably better for him to have her do it right then, before he could chicken out. Also, from having been in a female form before and having had men touching those parts, he could safely say he'd have to be sedated for a man to do a check like that.

"You're better to do the intrusive part now, while I'm still partly drugged," he relented after a pause.

She instructed him to part his legs, then helped him adjust them appropriately, and quickly used her latex-gloved hands to check for the positioning of things by applying some minor pressure to the top of his belly as well as outward from inside him. It didn't take especially long for her to do and withdraw, and just felt cold and clinical in general—as she said, it was somewhat uncomfortable, but it wasn't something he associated with a past painful experience with the way she'd handled it. Once she'd finished, she told him to relax again, then moved his clothes to the tray next to the bed (or so she told him) and informed him she was going to turn the lights off and step out of the room so he could orient himself. Lucrecia also informed him that she expected him to adapt his own eyes to normal light while he was orienting himself, so left the dial for the lights with him as well.

Once he was alone, Auryn had to sigh at the whole situation, even as he vaguely wondered why the Lifestream and Minerva were so incredibly happy. Since the drug was mostly worn off by then, he tentatively opened his eyes and found the room to be almost completely black. Despite the lack of light, he could still see things fairly well, even some with details he wasn't used to seeing, they were just currently all in black and white. He missed his color vision, though, so fingered the dial Lucrecia had given him and turned it up the first of ten notches. The faint light from the lowest 'on' setting returned to him color vision, and also caused his sight to sharpen, showing much more detail.

Since his eyes needed to adapt—she was right about the necessity—he began dressing slowly, sometimes adding another level of brightness to the lights. The time it took him just to make his body work right from the lingering drug made him glad he was alone in the room, and he felt mostly normal again by the time he was tying his hair back. He was also up to about seven of ten on the light levels, so turned it up one more and let his eyes take a couple minutes to adapt before going to the door and opening it tentatively. Thankfully, the light out in the hall didn't seem too much brighter than the light he'd already adapted to.

Lucrecia had just faced him, Doriss and Kariya to one side of the door as they had been speaking with her. They also looked at him shrewdly as he stopped uncertainly in the doorway. It was the Doctor who gave him a small smile and a nod as she said, "Good. You're looking better. For today, I think it better if you just go and get some rest—the other tests I need to run can wait a couple days and be done at my office in the city. Don't stress yourself too much, but please _do_ start adapting to all the changes and learning how they work. If anything results in a need for physio to help get it working right, we'll arrange for that to be done either in you rooms or at my city office. As such, unless you need me for anything right now, I'll leave you in Kariya and Doriss' care so you can head home."

Auryn blinked, then paused to think about the request. After a moment, he realized he had no immediate questions or needs, so told her, "I think I'm okay for now."

She nodded and said, "Just in case, Kariya has one of the tranquilizers I've been giving you, but I'm hoping you won't have a panic attack bad enough to need it. I'm still expecting you to have rough patches, but hopefully nothing quite so bad. Also, I've given him a modified version of the vitamins I gave you before—these ones should work better for you. Take care, then." She gave his shoulder a gentle, comforting squeeze, then headed out ahead of the two Turks and her patient, a file folder under her arm.

"Come on, then," Kariya smiled, beckoning him out of the doorway to walk between him and Doriss. "You were right, by the way."

"About?" the younger blond asked in mild confusion.

It was the older blond woman who replied, "Every one of the guards on your operating room had to turn away _at least_ one person during each shift. Nearly all of them were notably Hojo's assistants, the few he left here, but a few were unknown, leaving us the question of how they _got up here_ to _start_ with. Derin, Eonna, and Ansha are adding that to their list of things to look for."

He just sighed in tired resignation, but Kariya told him, "Admittedly, we'd thought you were being a little over-paranoid, but we were more than willing to do this for you if it gave you peace of mind. We've all sort of re-thought our opinion on that after this, and now it's more like—if you say you want or need guards for something, well, you probably legitimately _do_."

"It's good to know you're starting to take that seriously," Auryn replied with a faint smile, finding Kariya's candid admission somehow vaguely amusing and bemusing. The two Turks traded raised brows and faint smiles over his head.

They fell silent for the rest of the walk back to Kariya's apartment, and by the fact that Doriss stepped inside with them, Auryn figured her presence there had been prearranged. He was proven right when she readily sat at the table beside Auryn as Kariya pulled out three breakfasts he'd kept warm in the oven and put them on the table for the three of them. When cutlery joined the dishes, all three ate quietly with just an appreciative thanks from Doriss about the older Turk's culinary skills. It wasn't until they were done eating that both Doriss and Kariya faced him.

"So, since Doctor Crescent mentioned some 'unexpected results' from the operation, are you up to showing us what she meant?" Doriss asked frankly of the younger blond she'd, for all intents and purposes, adopted.

With a small shrug, Auryn answered, "I think I'd first rather get some natural rest before even _trying_ to think too hard on that."

"Once you've rested...so this afternoon, probably?" she affirmed.

It was then when Auryn actively realized they wanted him to tell them if he could trust them to know about his other form. At the moment, he wasn't sure he could do something like that—he was still trying to wrap _his own_ mind around being a chimera, let alone letting anyone else in on it. On the other hand...he didn't think he could actually keep Doriss from finding out, and probably pretty quickly. As for Kariya, he would probably find out pretty quickly, too, being his current 'keeper' as he was.

Finally, he sighed and agreed, "Yeah, probably this afternoon. If my own mind is ready enough to face it by then. It's a...pretty hard thing to adapt to, and the only thing really good about it is how I can transform oddly easily between the two forms—my normal one and it."

"You mean you're a shapeshifter like Vincent?" Kariya asked with a sudden blink.

"Effectively," the blond agreed with another sigh. "But definitely not because of the same source."

"Then, you'll have to get clothes made from the same material as Vincent's, the kind that adapts to the shift with him," Doriss commented.

"That's really expensive gear, though," Kariya told her. "I don't think even Doctor Crescent could get him more than one or two of them, so he could only do that for when he knew he was going into a situation where he might need to shift."

"Does Vincent only have one or two?" the blond Turk asked in mild surprise.

"Two, which he washes _very_ frequently," the orange haired man answered.

"I see," Doriss agreed, then looked at Auryn. "So, I'll check back this afternoon to see how you're doing, and if you're ready for it, we'll all have a look at your other form."

"...Yeah, thanks," Auryn agreed as Kariya nodded. "This afternoon, then." He then rose and went to his own room to lay down and rest.

In the end, he wasn't sure if he'd actually slept during that time, but after awhile, his mind started working on the one major oddity of his new form—there was no pain. A chimera was often in pain, and the only question was 'how much?' In his case, even taking into account his higher pain tolerance level, as far as he could tell—there was literally _no_ pain from either his base form or his chimera form, and there didn't even seem to be any from the transformation process. Even the transition between genders or forms the Shapeshift Materia allowed was uncomfortable at best, so what made this one different?

And the Shapeshift Materia was now a whole can of worms he didn't want to touch right then, so he returned to thinking on his chimera form.

His weight hadn't changed, he was sure of it, but if it hadn't, what had happened to the weight from his apparent wings and tail? What about the extra bulk from them, let alone the weight? Chimeras couldn't just get rid of those things, and they often experienced changes to their base forms to accommodate them—assuming they even had the luxury of transforming. Nina hadn't been able to, that he could tell, but the two who had saved him after the collapse of the facility in the north had been able to look like normal, bulked-up, human men. When the latter two had shifted, they didn't gain weight or bulk, just animal-ish features.

At the thought of the disparity, he decided to ask Minerva, _:Where are the animal parts of my other form kept if they aren't stored in my body?:_

_:I am holding them,:_ she replied, sending him a smile. When he sent back a sense of confusion, she added, _:See this array here?:_ With the words, she highlighted one of the arrays forming his body.

When he focused on it, he realized it was the array anchoring him to her essence, her core—the same one he used to access her core to place or remove Materia from there. Blinking, he traced it tentatively—and came to Minerva's core, to a series of arrays which were clearly activating and shaping his form as a chimera. All of the arrays in the collection would literally transpose with the equivalent ones forming his current body, exchanging one form with the other. It even worked differently from the Shapeshift Materia, which added arrays to the base form to make it take an alternate shape, then removed those arrays to revert them to normal. But looking at it that way...

He _wasn't_ a chimera?

_:You are not a chimera, but a viable shapeshifter, properly made and defined as one was meant to be. Chaos and his host are the only other ones with my approval and with fully proper forms. There are others, in that 'deep' place, who are similar, but not so well-made. Removing their ability to shift is not currently within my skills, yet seeing how your form came to exist, I may be able to begin modifying or severing those who were made improperly in that 'deep' place,:_ she informed him.

_:I see,:_ he agreed, suddenly feeling somewhat better about having that other form. _:It would probably a good idea if you _did_ start removing their ability to shapeshift if you can, since those ones were some of the worst, some of the ones who suffered the most, in Deepground.:_

_:We shall see how things proceed from here, and I shall examine those arrays further,:_ she agreed. _:It is good to find your mind and soul so much more stable now, my Ancient Sentinel.:_

The words made him smile faintly as he drifted back to his own body and into sleep.


	30. 29-Seeing the Shift

Seeing the Shift

When Auryn woke, it was to Doriss and Kariya trying to wrestle a full-length mirror through the door from Kariya's room. He dazedly pushed himself to a semi-sitting position to stare in confused bemusement at them as they carted the mirror through his room and out into the living room. As far as he could tell, they hadn't even _looked_ at him while doing it, leaving him wondering what they were doing.

Then, he remembered the three days in the Doctors' care and waking up to his new, furry form. He'd never even looked closely at his newly-adapted current form, let alone _that_ one, leaving him to wonder if they planned to watch him strip, too.

A few moments later, the pair resolved the issue by returning to his room and heading back to Kariya's as Doriss paused long enough to say, "I have use of the mirror, no questions asked, until this evening. Right now, we're busy preparing a meal and some snacks for all of us, so you can use the mirror to look at anything you don't want the two of us to see. Come let us know when you're ready." She then followed Kariya back into the orange haired man's apartment, closing the door behind her.

He had to blink several times before coming awake enough to process the words, but then, he tentatively got up and went to look in the living room, at first just gazing at the mirror like he was puzzled. Finally, with a faint sigh, he moved in front of it, wondering if he'd see any major changes while dressed. The only things he actively noted as being different, and that after a very close look at his face, was how some of his more masculine features weren't quite right anymore—they were softer. His lips were a little fuller, his mouth a bit smaller, but not by much, and his hairline was marginally lower than it had been. A few sharper lines of his face were more rounded, and there was an over-all minor 'delicacy' to him which he hadn't had before.

When he forced himself to look only at his face as though looking at a photo of a stranger, what he realized was how it was impossible to tell by his features if he was male or female.

If that was just the changes to his face, what did the rest of his body look like?

Carefully, he began stripping, deliberately not looking at the mirror as he did, until he was done removing everything. Once he had, he drew in a deep breath and turned to face the mirror, looking into it warily as he traced his—modified—body shape. The first thing he noticed was that the changes really _weren't_ obvious unless he knew to look for them. Anything which had changed was marginal at best, things which only registered as a change because he was aware he had to look for them, and just standing normally actually made it hard to see them—it took him lifting his arms to a ninety degree angle to his body to see that his chest had a change, for example.

As for the changes, likely the most visible would have been a greater roundedness to his hips—they weren't quite the narrow, fit, trim ones he'd had before. With that, his waist had become slightly more pronounced, not because it had shifted, but because his hips were just a little wider. His belly also was slightly more rounded, rather than completely flat, but pressing on it told him it was all still hard, lean muscle. Similarly, his upper body was still buff and he still had the six-pack he was used to—lifting his arms had shown him there was a little extra soft tissue around his breast area, but not enough to be ordinarily visible. Some of his other lines, like his arms, neck, and even his legs, to an extent, were a little more dainty-looking, but still fully muscled—if anything, his legs had _gained_ a bit of muscle.

He didn't need or want to look between his legs, since he already basically knew what he'd see there, and the only oddity would be in seeing both male and female bits down there at the same time. As such, he dressed again, but not in the same clothes he'd been wearing—instead, he put on the shirt he'd first been wearing since it was pretty old and ratty compared to the new things Kariya had taken him to get, or gotten for him. With the old shirt, he used his old pants, which had definitely been worn out at the knee and only still holding together because of alchemy.

After a pause to think, he sighed and touched his clothes as he used the arrays to modify them to fit the wings and tail he knew he'd had. Since he wasn't actually sure where he'd need to put the holes for the new appendages, he simply opened up the back of the shirt, turned the pants into shorts, and created an open triangle at the back of them for where he figured the tail would be. At the waist, the shirt and pants still had bands of material circling it all the way around to hold it in place, and he'd left material at his neck. After a pause, he also stripped off the sleeves of the shirt, but there was still an inch-wide band of material running down his back on each side, joining with the material at his sides and still leaving most of his back open.

Finally, once he was done with that, he went to find Doriss and Kariya, who were sitting at the man's kitchen table with warm food in front of them. As such, the three ate, then took the snack foods back to Auryn's as he prepared to look at his new form. He still felt very nervous about showing that form—he still instinctively tended to refer to it as a chimera form—to anyone else, but he was already aware it wasn't actually optional with these two. It may have been possible to hold off for awhile, but that's really all it would have been, not something which would just never been seen by them.

As such, he moved back in front of the mirror and closed his eyes to think about taking the form with fur and wings and a tail. For a few moments, nothing happened—the Lifestream even seemed confused by the request—but then, he felt his body...not quite fade out before solidifying again. And he immediately felt an uncomfortable, downward pull on his shoulders and shoulder blades, as well as feeling generally more weighed down than he had before.

"Whoa..." Doriss muttered, tone clearly stunned.

"I think that gives new meaning to the term 'genetic therapy'," Kariya added, voice equally stunned.

"That's one way of putting it," the blond Turk agreed absently.

Finally screwing up his courage to do so, Auryn was able to open his eyes to look at his new form.

The first thing which jumped out at him was a whole lot of gold. All over his body, in fact, in the form of golden, roughly inch-long fur, interspersed in some areas with white. His hair had thickened into something more like a mane—but what had made it look so much thicker wasn't more fur, it was because there were now feathers threaded into it, which were also golden. The wings which were sagging to the ground behind him at the moment seemed to be golden on top and white underneath, but were definitely feathered and each was as long as he was tall—the typical wingspan for flight. Granted, not all birds had such an extensive wingspan, but most had that or larger. At the moment, he couldn't see his back or tail.

His face was distinctly cat-like, despite the feathers in his hair right next to it—those feathers and his still-round pupils were the only non-cat features. Golden eyes on a cat-like form happened to be decidedly appropriate, but he couldn't focus on his eyes for long with his now-pointed, furry ears in his easy line of sight. They had little, white tufts on their tips, had the shape of cat ears, and sat in about the same place as his human ears would have—something which didn't happen with the Shapeshift Materia's Hybrid forms (those would have been on the top of his head or stayed human). In addition, he had the flattened, inverted triangular nose of a cat, pink surrounded by mostly white fur with a few golden patches. It even had the seam down the middle leading to and splitting his upper lip. There were even several distinct whiskers jutting out from each cheek, those thick 'hairs' showing as white.

He wasn't sure how much of his chest would have been white, but he wasn't going to take off his shirt to find out—it was already disorienting enough just looking at what he was now seeing. It would have been a lot worse if he'd never put the work into Mastering Shapeshift and already gotten used to seeing himself in hybrid or animal forms long ago, but that didn't actually make a new, unfamiliar form less disorienting at first. The mind and emotions still had to catch up with the fact that 'this is just you, no one else.'

The problem was the wings. When using the Hybrid or Shapeshift spells on the Shapeshift Materia, the extra appendages—wings, tails, fins, flippers, or anything else—were properly usable, as in, the muscles worked properly and a person just had to adapt to having extra muscles they didn't before. Apparently, his new form didn't have that advantage, as he couldn't even _lift_ his wings, let alone fold them up properly—he'd need rehab to train things like his wing and tail muscles to work properly. In a way, it made sense, as those muscles were now natural ones which had never been used or built up before, so now needed to be developed. If he hadn't been through rehab with both his arm and leg before they'd become flesh again, and then after the leg had, he'd have no idea what rehab would entail, but...It wouldn't be fun, but _would_ be necessary.

With a faint sigh, he moved to turn around so he could see the rest of himself, prompting both Doriss and Kariya to jump up and each grip the top edge of a wing to lift them and help him turn. It made the motion easier on him, since then the wings weren't dragging on the floor, and he was finally able to see his back and tail. In the process, he noted how the wings had the same number of joints and segments as any normal arm, and it looked like they would first fold down from his shoulders, up from the lower joint, then back down from the top joint. How they would actually _sit_ when folded, he'd have to wait until he could use the muscles properly to find out.

On his back between his wings—and subsequently, down his spine—were feathers mixed into his fur, but there didn't seem to be too many of them. Near the bottom of his left side, almost on his hip, he noticed a patch of white fur, like the kind of 'spot' a lot of animals seemed to have. He'd guessed the tail's location would be at about the base of the spine, and it had proven to be a very good guess, though he could have moved the hole a bit lower if he'd known the exact position for it. It was also covered in golden fur until he got down to the tail tip, which resembled a feathered tuft in white. After a minute of maneuvering around his wings, he managed to snatch the appendage and look more closely, finding a definitely feathered tuft which had muscles which would allow it to spread out into a rather large, feathered fan very similar to a bird's tail. An effective rudder indeed.

For the most part, his fur was a uniform length and thickness, but in some places, notably his hands and face of what he could currently see, it was both shorter and finer. On his hands and feet were semi-retractable claws in place of his nails—another set of muscles he'd need to train—and he still had that raptor sight. In addition, he definitely had the enhanced senses of smell, taste, touch, vibration, and so on which came from the animal parts of his new form. If it had been completely true that he'd had hollow bird's bones for some time (he thought it was, though) and the general joint system of a cat, his current form only added the amount of weight which would put him a little over the weight of his human body before his bones had been hollowed. Most of that weight came from the additional corded muscle added to his chest to manipulate his wings, and from the same muscle type in his wings.

Then he noticed Doriss carefully folding one of his wings into the most likely position for it to sit, so he sent her a questioning look. She kept working delicately on his wing as she said, "I think you'll need the help of others to flex them at first, until your muscles learn to do so. They need the exercise, even if it isn't quite complete yet—won't be until you can do it yourself. We both noticed how you couldn't lift them yourself." By then, she had folded it into position, held it for a minute, then began gently spreading it again. Kariya joined her at that point to help him with the other wing.

In the time she'd had the wing folded, Auryn had realized the wings were actually _designed_ for a humanoid body, not a bird's or a quadrupedal animal's. The lower joint dropped to just about the same place his tail began, the top joint was about even with the top of his head, and the flexible feather tips trailed below his hips, the longest ones nearly to his knees. Because those were so flexible, though, he'd have a hard time damaging them, and they didn't seem to mind being moved—it didn't even irritate their anchors. The set of the top wing joints caused them to lean forward over his shoulders just a bit, which also pushed the bottom joints out a bit from his body, making it less likely he'd hurt them if he sat somewhere where they'd touch whatever he sat on—they had some give and would move away from his body a bit if needed.

As the two were working, there was a sudden 'thunk' sound, then an elated voice announced, "Finally!" A moment later, as all three stared in shock, Ansha slipped into the room through the door she'd been installing in the front closet (to keep it from being openly seen as an exit), saying, "It took a lot of work to get the gea...rs..." At that point, she realized what she was looking at and drifted off to stare in shock for a moment.

"...Kariya..." Doriss sighed.

"That's got nothing to do with me," he replied in a dry tone.

Auryn just stared at Ansha, halfway to a panic state, until she blinked, crossed her arms loosely, and commented, "As shocking as your new look is, Auryn, _I_ personally think it's rather fetching. You're pretty attractive like that, you know." She actually smiled faintly as he blinked, then asked, "Can I guess this is the result of Doctor Crescent's gene therapy?"

"It is," Kariya agreed. "We're working his wings a bit to help exercise the muscles."

"That's probably a good idea," Ansha agreed. "And some of that will probably be needed every day until he can do it himself, otherwise they'll start to petrify. It's bad enough when that happens to normal joints—it would be even worse on a wing." The others all blinked slowly at her, so she grinned and added, "Now, as I was saying about the door—the gears to open and close it are finally working right, so you now officially have a second exit or entrance, Auryn. Keep it in mind in case you need it."

He was quiet for a few moments before managing an, "Uuuuhhh..."

With a blink, Ansha moved right over to him, leaning down a bit to peer at his mouth intently with her brow furrowed slightly. She then said, "Stick your tongue out, Auryn." Not knowing why he should, he did, and she blinked again, that time in surprise. "Well, isn't _that_ going to be an interesting trick to work around."

Kariya and Doriss traded looks before Doriss asked, "What trick?"

"His tongue is covered in those little, backwards-pointing spikes which cover a cat's tongue," Ansha answered in amusement. "It's also thinner, like a cat's, and longer. Likely more flexible, too. Since cats can vocalize nearly every sound _we_ can, you _should_ still be able to talk like normal, Auryn, but until you get used to the new form of your tongue, it will likely be a little more difficult than you're used to. Other than slightly longer and more pointed canine teeth, that's the most notable change to your mouth."

He blinked at her twice as she stood straight, then asked, "Doesn't this bother you—at all?" Well, at least he now knew why his tongue felt like Velcro when he tried to talk.

Her brow cocked before she replied, "I grew up in the Slums, Auryn. People there are insane, shameless, and have thrown all sense of caution to the wind—they use the discarded dregs of the Mako Reactors to create Materia. Or rather, Materia 'after a fashion', which all mostly don't work the way they should and normally result in the deaths of anyone they're used on in rather gruesome ways. For the few which work—go figure, they're mostly transformative. I'm _used_ to people walking around looking like humanoid rabbits or dogs or cats or whatever until the effect either wears off or is removed. Reno even _has_ one of those transformative ones, but he doesn't normally use it around here. I only know about it because some asshole attacked him and he used that to turn the guy into something easier for him to get away from—a humanoid rabbit in heat."

"...How would _that_ be _easier_ to get away from?" Kariya asked with a constipated look.

"Because the 'guy' in question was completely straight and attacked Reno for trying to get into bed with his girlfriend," Doriss replied with a faintly amused sigh. "When Reno used it on him, he turned back to his girlfriend and began screwing her in the middle of the hall until Reno manhandled them into the nearest supply closet."

Despite himself, Auryn had to chuckle at the rendition, because it sounded just so much like Reno. And he actually _had_ known about that Materia—even had it used on him once, thankfully not in a detrimental situation—so it wasn't something new he had to assimilate. That time, when he'd asked Reno about it (after the effect had worn off), the red haired Turk had told him it's not actually as simple as 'a rabbit in heat', though that seemed to be a fairly common side effect. What it normally did, besides giving a person rabbit ears, a rabbit tail, and a fine sprinkling of fur, was force them to acknowledge parts of them they kept hidden, restricted, or were ignorant to entirely.

If someone had a temper which stemmed from something besides their intrinsic personality (such as abuse), for example, use of the Materia on that person would cause them to cast aside the anger. That didn't mean they became calm or mellow or accepting; they may actually end up so hyper they couldn't sit still and full of good cheer, or they might become melancholy, or even turn cold, calculating, and sadistic. Depending on the mental and emotional result of the transformation, someone may declare their love for their greatest rival or commit suicide. Since sexuality was something in a gray area most people ignored or pretended didn't exist beyond sex itself, that was frequently something brought to the fore, but it wasn't the purpose of the Materia. People who had explored and accepted their own sexuality had results which had nothing to do with that element of themselves.

The problem was that it _wasn't_ 'a Materia' the way either Minerva or Auryn understood them to be, or even an illusion stone. Whatever it _was_, it was something else entirely, and it was only having experienced it personally that time which had allowed Auryn to see it as mostly beneficial. As such, unlike other 'Materia' which had been similarly made in the Slums, that one he left alone. There were a grand total of five types he could just leave be, and none of _those_ had more than three copies floating around either the Plate or the Slums or both. The verdict was still out on _what_ they were, though—he'd never actually had an opportunity to study them seriously yet to find out.

After Doriss' explanation to Ansha's reference to Reno, Kariya sighed and went back to working Auryn's wing, commenting as he did, "Looks like you caught Auryn in a good enough mood that he's not panicking, anyway, so that's a good thing. You're lucky this time, Ansha."

"Of course, it would have helped if you'd told me you had plans so I could have done this during one of my off times tomorrow rather than today," Ansha replied in a dry tone. "Like Bloody Valentine keeps telling us, it's one thing to say nothing to an enemy, but it's detrimental to _us_ to not share with friends and allies. That's _your_ fault, not mine."

"Sharing works two ways, and I don't recall you ever informing me you planned to try to finish the door soon, let alone today, either. Don't call Kettle 'black', Miss Pot."

Doriss snorted as Auryn blinked and Ansha snickered. "Fair enough. But since I'm now officially his second—minder, I guess, I should know this, anyway. Makes me _glad_ I walked in on it, or I'd have been kept out of the loop."

For several minutes, Doriss and Kariya kept working on his wings as Ansha made herself comfy on Auryn's couch, until they declared themselves as done as they would be that day and told Auryn he could switch back to human form. He did, then went to get changed as the two also found seats—noticing as he did how his finger nails were thicker, and slightly more tapering to a point than they had been before. Even in his human form. It seemed he had one more change to his human body, and was suddenly thankful all of those were very small.

He returned as Doriss asked the other Lady Turk, "What do you think of _my_ presence here?"

Ansha blinked at her, then said, "Since the time you called the Doctor for Auryn, I've had an alarm and camera watching the balcony doors. I know very well how often you're here, and that Auryn doesn't mind. And that you've let Auryn go wandering before." Kariya's eyes widened in something like horror as Ansha added, "Since he came back safely, I didn't see a point in saying anything, because honestly, he _needs_ to get out more. This way, though, at least someone knows where to start looking if things don't go so well one day."

"And this is why you should all be working together..." Auryn sighed faintly as Kariya spun to face an annoyed Doriss, about to yell at her in anger. "And Kariya, shut up."

The others all blinked at him in mild surprise before the older man glared, "I didn't say anything!"

"You were going to," Auryn replied flatly. "I might be mostly okay to just sit quietly in a single room and read, but that doesn't mean I can do it _all the time_. You mean well, but when you get protective, you _also_ become stifling, Kariya."

"I haven't been—" he began.

"Six," the younger blond cut him off quietly.

The single number word was so out of place that Kariya stopped and frowned in confusion before asking, "Six what?"

"The number of times I've been out of this apartment or yours, one of those because I left without telling my keepers. And the number of people I can visit with is limited to about three, with only rare, random moments with others," Auryn replied, shaking his head. "I'm not getting out enough, and I have too few visitors too rarely. It's not normal. You're usually quite good, yourself, at dealing with me, but—you've started trying too hard to protect me. This wasn't supposed to be a prison for me, but it's starting to feel that way."

A long silence followed the words, then the man sighed and rose again to leave the room, returning to his own. Auryn felt a surge of fear at the reaction, so curled up on the chair he'd recently sat down on, shivering a bit as he couldn't quite stop the 'reaction to past torture'. It wasn't nearly as strong that time, and using the breathing technique Tseng had taught him was enough to bring it back under control, but the wariness in the back of his mind didn't go away. He didn't see the looks the two women traded as they waited for him to calm down, but once he did, Ansha went to get a board game the three of them could play for awhile.

By the time the two left, wrestling the mirror out with them, Auryn felt well enough to rest until supper, expecting Kariya to come get him as he usually did...

But the man didn't.

With no actual food of his own to eat because he hadn't been cooking for himself, that left him the question of what he _should_ do. Unable to decide on a course of action, he just curled up in bed to wait for the hunger pains to pass so he could fall into sleep, as he had done so many times over the many lifetimes he'd lived...

He could only barely stop tears from falling at the realization that even Kariya could turn on him, it just wasn't physical torture the man would resort to, it was avoidance, even of a necessary responsibility.


	31. 30-The Search Begins

The Search Begins

Kariya came to with a faint groan of pain, feeling the back of his head throbbing—he knew it as the sensation one was left with after being hit with something hard and blunt. The source of the pain seemed to be further to the left of his head and slightly lower than his ear, letting him know the person who had hit him had come up from the left and had most likely been shorter than him. The room he was in was dark, and there didn't seem to be any sort of air flow, leading to an oddly deafening sensation. After carefully lifting his hand to touch the wound gently, he realized they had broken the skin and likely done actual damage to his skull—he probably had a concussion at the least.

Dropping his hand, he mentally cursed himself for being foolish enough to accept a mission when he'd already known his mind was distracted.

After several more minutes of silently cursing himself, and of time to bring his mind to a more alert state—though, he could already tell he wasn't up to par, so he definitely had a concussion—he was able to further assess his surroundings.

What he found wasn't encouraging.

He had been laying on a solid, uncomfortable, metal surface. Opening his eyes revealed that there was _no_ light in the room. At all. Since his hands were more mobile than the rest of him currently was, he used them to explore his personal effects and his surroundings as much as he could without moving, and quickly found cold, metal walls to go with the floor. As for personal effects, he had none beyond his clothes.

A moment later, he processed what it meant for him to have nothing but his clothes and cursed silently again, but for a different reason that time. It wasn't so much that the handgun he kept, or his ID, bank card, and PHS were missing—those were detrimental but not actually _dangerous_. He'd had his full retinue of bombs on him, including a plasma bomb he kept for emergencies, even against Lady Shinra's orders. That _one_ bomb would _single-handedly_ obliterate a whole city Sector and likely trigger all the mechanisms which would drop some, or all, of the rest of the Plate. It had never been intended for use in a populated area, but more than once, it had saved his life in places like the far north. In the wrong hands...

For another few minutes, he just lay there and mentally cursed, then heaved a sigh and shook his head slightly—an action which made him dizzy. Yep, he had a concussion.

There was no sense in expending overly much energy, but he had to at least see if there was any possible chance of finding a way out of the room. While his hopes for that were low due to the lack of air flow, there was still the possibility, so he carefully levered himself up, taking his time so he hopefully didn't trigger a very strong dizzy spell. Any movement outside his arms currently caused the effect, so it was slow-going. He ran his hands over every surface he could reach, being as thorough as he could be in the dark, and finding that the ceiling was oddly close to him—it was actually only about an inch above his head.

Why that fact set off warning bells in his mind, he wasn't sure, but it did. Something was wrong, he was sure of it.

Otherwise, there were four walls without any features save the outline of a door on one wall, a door which was vacuum-sealed and had no locking mechanism from the inside. It was nearly completely flush with the wall, and it was only his previous experience with similar doors which had even allowed him to register it as such. There was no vent—hence the lack of air flow—no windows, no hints of anything to break up the solid walls of the room. There wasn't even a light fixture.

Again, warning bells went off in his mind.

Moving back over to the wall to the right of the door, he laid down again, assessing what he now knew. It wasn't pretty. He had limited air in a restricted space he had no way out of.

He mentally cursed himself again for his stupidity, but that time, it was resigned. Unless he got really lucky in the form of outside help, he wouldn't be getting out of _this_ one.

Why did the ceiling height bother him so much, though?

Suddenly, he heard the seal on the door release, so pushed himself to a sitting position and leaned back against the wall, blinking as a light suddenly came on from behind the surface of the ceiling. That meant what? Well, besides the fact that he'd just been blinded from the brightness.

He'd thought the ceiling was metal, but light couldn't shine through metal. There had been some experiments into 'transparent aluminum', but that was supposed to be flexible, not solid, assuming it was a real thing. Maybe the ceiling was some sort of plexiglass? In the dark and with the precedent of metal walls, it was entirely possible his mind hadn't been able to process the surface difference—and he was sure his concussion wouldn't have helped with that.

By the time his eyes cleared—he'd needed to blink several times even after his eyes had begun to adapt—he realized the room had somewhat changed. Well, no, the room hadn't, other than now having an open door. Two armed men stood at the door, on high alert, their gazes trained on him. His gaze drifted to the top of the door as he realized the ceiling was lower than the top doorjamb, triggering more warning bells. About two feet from the door, leaning on the wall across from Kariya, was a Wutain man in gray clothes who had short, brown hair and glasses.

"I figured you'd be awake by now, Death God of the Battlefield. Incidentally, that fact is the only reason you're still alive, you know?" the man asked, a coldness in his voice and gaze which Kariya had never heard from another human before. It wasn't as though he personally had anything against Kariya—it was just a general coldness, lack of expression, lack of emotion.

"Is it?" Kariya asked with a raised brow. "And—who are you, again? Do I know you?"

"We've never met personally before," the man replied. "And yes. Tell me, why would someone opposed to Shin-Ra not have already destroyed them, especially with the advantage you have in your current position? You obviously have means with which to do so if your weapons are any indication."

Lifting his shoulders in a shrug, Kariya replied, "I have a 'daddy complex', as one of my co-workers called it, and I have more than one 'kid' I'd rather not sacrifice." Which was entirely true, without even scratching the surface of the whole truth.

"You realize Turks don't qualify as children, don't you?" the man asked, head tipped to the side like he was trying to figure out some sort of puzzle.

"I don't mean Turks," he shrugged. "I mean civilians who have various reasons to be there—a boy in need of protection and support the Turks are currently giving him, girls in classes at the Academy, and so on. Just as examples." He could say the latter because Shalua had recently asked to attend some of the medical classes there, and by extension, that meant Shelke had wanted to take a few classes, too. Lady Shinra had approved it, and about a week ago, they had started their new classes. He didn't have to mention Tseng, or Cissnei, or anyone _else_ he felt a fatherly fondness for.

"I see," the man replied, head still tipped to the side. "Well, at this point, you'll need to make a decision to cast that life aside or die. Work for me and I'll let you live, or refuse and I have no qualms about killing you. Painfully, as an example to the other Turks who have been interfering with me. On the other hand, think of how quickly we could bring down the Shin-Ra if we were working together, my tactical ability and your skill on the battlefield!" At the last, the man actually seemed excited.

Honestly, Kariya wasn't sure how to answer him. It wasn't that he would ever agree—that would mean killing Tseng, Auryn, and his daughters, which was a no-go—but he also didn't know what kind of response he should give the man. There were multiple forms of refusal, and those different forms had the potential to yield different results.

Finally, he decided to ask, "Do you have kids of your own, or any living family?"

"No," the Wutain man replied blandly. "I have no use for a woman or children, and I murdered the rest of my—formerly—living relatives who thought they should try to stop me from reaching my goal."

First, Kariya blinked at the words, then just shook his head, not able to fully process them. After a minute, he decided to focus on what he _could_ process: "What goal is that?"

"Humans are parasites to this world. Shin-Ra is the worst of the worst of them. The only way to possibly save the world is to eliminate the parasites," the man answered easily. At the words, the orange haired man's brain broke for a few minutes, and in that time, the Wutain straightened and turned back to the door. Over his shoulder, he said, "You have several hours to think about my offer. I'll be back then. If you either can't answer or refuse to join me, you'll die. Given your status, that would be a shame."

"Hey—" Kariya began suddenly, causing the man to halt at the door, the armed men to either side of him. "Is this actually _just_ about Shinra, or was I hearing you right when you said you plan to eliminate _all of humanity_?"

The Wutain actually _laughed_ as he stepped out of the room and the armed men shut and sealed the door again. A moment later, the light went out and he was left alone in the dark again.

Only one known person wanted to eliminate humanity, and that was Fuhito—and Kariya was _sure_ that was _exactly_ what the man had meant by his phrasing. The order of the sentences would cause most people to assume he meant Shinra, but what he'd _actually said_ had meant _all_ of the 'parasites', which in his view was humanity itself.

He was screwed.

FoWD

Auryn was jolted awake suddenly by Minerva almost shouting into his mind, _:Get up, my Ancient Sentinel! Something has gone very wrong!:_

_:What has?:_ he silently asked her in reply, feeling disoriented and suddenly starving as he sat up in bed.

_:He has been captured, will die soon, without your help,:_ she replied, showing him an image of Kariya.

His brain froze for a moment before he asked, _:Wait, what? How? By who?:_

First, he was shown an image of Fuhito and a few AVALANCHE members, then she told him, _:I am uncertain of how. Normally, this should have been impossible, particularly with his knowledge and ability now that he is, and is not, an Eidolon. His mind has been...less than clear for some time—if only 'time' was a function which I was able to properly define...:_

He felt suddenly ill with realization, and she sent him a questioning sense—but they were cut off as the door to Kariya's room opened to reveal a worried Tseng. At that moment, Auryn's stomach rumbled hungrily, and the Wutain blinked in surprise before asking warily, "When did you last eat?"

"...Lunch yesterday, except for a few snacks early afternoon," Auryn admitted.

Tseng's lips pursed and he turned to call, "Vincent, Kariya hasn't been back since you sent him out yesterday." A curse came from Kariya's apartment. The Wutain then turned back to Auryn to say, "Get up and join us in Kariya's apartment. I'll have to get some food into you." Before the blond could reply, Tseng had left the room, so Auryn pushed himself up and followed.

Vincent was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the PHS in his hand, as Tseng began rummaging around in the kitchen cupboards and the fridge. The older man obviously looked upset, but he lifted his head a bit and shifted his eyes in Tseng's direction at the noise, asking, "What are you doing _now_, Tseng?"

"Cooking," Tseng replied shortly, looking unhappy.

_That_ got Vincent's attention, as the man turned in his seat to face the younger Turk. "...Cooking."

"Auryn needs to be fed. Without Kariya and Ansha at the Control Center, that leaves me," the Wutain replied, still sounding irritated.

"I'm not a dog..." Auryn muttered with a faint sigh.

The frying pan Tseng had been holding slammed down onto the counter hard and loudly enough to make Auryn jump with both shock and fear, and Tseng said, "Auryn, right now, syntax _isn't_ something to nit-pick when we now have a Turk missing overnight after being sent on what _should_ have been a simple recon mission." He then kept working.

"Tseng, don't take that out on Auryn," Vincent sighed faintly. "We're all worried, all those of us who know he's missing, but—_none_ of that is _Auryn's_ fault."

"Minerva said Fuhito has him," Auryn said, and both men froze, then turned to stare at him in something like horror.

Then Vincent blinked and asked, "Who's Minerva?"

"The same entity my friend in the Slums talks with," Tseng sighed.

Vincent's eyes widened again as he looked distinctly ill. "How did this happen?"

"...Didn't you know something was bothering him when you sent him?" Auryn asked quietly, gaze full of guilt. When Vincent met his eyes with puzzled apprehension, the blond said, "I've only been out of this room six times since I came here. It's becoming like a prison, the same thing all of you insist it shouldn't have been. I told him so not long before you sent him, so you sent him to do something 'simple' _while he was distracted_. For _any_ Turk, distraction normally equates death." He looked down and added, "I'm so sorry...I should have just kept my mouth shut..."

A long silence fell, then Vincent sighed faintly and rose from the table as kitchen and cooking sounds started up again. A moment later, the blond found himself shocked when warm fingers tipped his chin up so he was meeting Vincent's sad eyes from about a foot away. "Auryn, it's not your fault for voicing a valid worry about how we're handling you. If anything, the fault is mine for not realizing the depth of his distraction, and his for not just telling me he didn't think he could do the task right then. Don't blame yourself for something which _wasn't your fault_."

"In the meantime, is there anything Minerva can tell us about his state now, or his location?" Tseng asked from where he was again working on a meal.

"Right now, he's still alive, but I'm pretty sure Minerva woke me so urgently because she became aware that his time is limited," Auryn answered. "I don't have all the details, but I could try to ask her for more of them?"

"Please," Vincent almost begged, releasing Auryn's chin and moving back to his seat as he motioned the blond at the table.

After a hesitant pause, Auryn moved to the table and sat, then turned his mind back to Minerva as he asked, _:Do you actually have any details about where he is or what's threatening him?:_

_:He is yet in Midgar...It does not appear to be in the sphere of my Beloved Child and new Budling, nor does it appear to be in yours, above both other spheres,:_ she told him. _:Yet, nor does he appear to be in the sphere of little children between your two locations. Metal and stone, pressure, weight. There is...little way for me to define the location, or the danger. He is entirely in darkness, unless he has a visitor, which he has only once since I found his mind aware again. This is what he saw.:_ She then showed him an image, obviously from Kariya's eyes, as he saw a room with several peculiarities, a pair of armed guards, Fuhito—and a minimal view of what was outside the door.

"Fuck," he sighed. "I wish I had some way of showing you what she showed to me. Her size makes it very hard to pinpoint or interpret things to do with anything as small as us..."

Vincent blinked, then gave a faint smile. "I find Chaos tends to have the same problem, unfortunately. And he isn't _nearly_ so different in size from us. What were you able to see from her?"

"She showed me what's around him from his view. The room had a section of clear, flat ceiling which light shone through while Fuhito was there, but the walls and floor were metal, and the door was one of those vacuum seal ones," Vincent blinked in surprise. "I noticed the door was apparently _taller_ than the height of the ceiling." Both Vincent and Tseng froze in horror at the words, both looking paler than normal. "The walls of the hall outside seemed to be cement. When Minerva tried to explain it to me, she made it sound like it wasn't the Shinra building, the Upper Plate, or the Lower Plate, but somewhere she still registers as definitely in Midgar."

"Is that even possible?" Tseng asked in annoyance. "We're on a timer and have to try to figure out a riddle instead of just being told where he is?"

"Yeah. Now you know what we Cetra feel like when we have to try to interpret what she gives us," Auryn replied apprehensively. "She's trying, but her perception of the world is different from ours. This is the best she can do." There was a short pause, then Auryn asked softly, "What was actually wrong with that room, though? I mean, the ceiling obviously wasn't in the right place, but..."

"You mean no one's tried to crush you before?" Tseng asked over his shoulder.

"They did, but what does that have to do with that room?" the blond asked again.

"...If people crushed you before, but you don't recognize the room you described, what _were_ they using to do it?" Vincent asked in something like bemused horror.

"Uh...do I really need to describe those painful ways to die?" Auryn asked, feeling ill at the memories even the thought brought to mind. Then he blinked and his eyes widened as he said, "The ceiling will slowly drop lower until he's..."

Vincent nodded. "If you're not ready to name objects, then don't. At least now you realize what the 'use' of that room is."

"Does it even _have_ a valid use, or is it just an excuse to torture people to death?" Auryn asked bitterly.

With a sigh, the older man said, "Auryn, some products and objects need to be highly compressed to form properly, and others need to be compressed to be disposed of properly, or as well as we're able to at this time. There _are_ valid uses for rooms like that, and the fault in their misuse lies with the _people choosing_ to use it that way, not with the fact that it exists."

"So what would be the point in Fuhito doing that to Kariya?" Tseng asked quietly as he worked.

"My best guess?" Vincent queried. "Likely to warn or punish us for interfering with him. As Auryn said, he just doesn't _care_ about life, so it's unlikely he's doing it because it excites him—but we have intel verifying that he's a cold-hearted man who will do _anything_ he thinks will get him what he wants. If we found Kariya crushed to death like that, with or without a recording, what do you think would happen to our ranks?"

"...He would think we would start reacting in fear, and to an extent, some of us may. The reality is that he'd have just made himself our number one mortal enemy, and we would be sure to return the favor," Tseng answered.

"I've seen something like this happen before, Tseng. Yes, we would be on the warpath, and yes, we would retaliate harshly against him, but that kind of death is one of the more cruel ones, especially in a controlled environment like that room. He could keep Kariya alive and in agony for hours, even days, without quite killing him, without quite dropping him into unconsciousness. Can you _really_ tell me you _won't_ be on the verge of panic if you met Fuhito face-to-face after seeing what he made Kariya suffer?" Tseng tensed and froze for a moment. "_That's_ why we have to stop it from going so far, at all costs."

"There's one other problem which was never one before..." Auryn cut in quietly, wringing his hands together. When both other men looked at him, he said, "Most of Kariya's bombs are...well, about as 'normal' as a bomb _could_ be. There's always one bomb he has on him which isn't meant to be used in a populated area, and that one has the potential of triggering a chain reaction here in Midgar which would drop some or all of the Upper Plate. He told me once that it's called a plasma bomb. It's the sort of thing he uses if he goes out to the Great Glacier and gets surrounded by monsters or finds a herd of something really dangerous."

"_Fuck_!" Vincent swore, gripping his PHS so tightly he actually crushed it. Both Tseng and Auryn stared at him with wide, shocked eyes. The Wutain was then forced to turn back to the stove as something started burning.

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Eonna stepped in, carrying with her a few papers. She paused to look around at them, then moved over to Vincent and offered him the papers. "Should I get you a new phone when I leave?" she asked, gazing at the device and its broken parts on the table.

Vincent forced himself to release the PHS with a sigh, then took the papers. "You wouldn't happen to know of a place which is in Midgar, but isn't the Shinra building or either of the Plates, would you?" he asked half-heartedly.

"After all that data hunting you had me do earlier, _my_ first thought is the core pillar, where that hospital was supposed to have been," she replied dryly, causing all three to stare at her in shock. "Why?"

"...The core pillar..." Vincent mused slowly.

"It _is_ riddled with passages, and I'm pretty sure maintenance doesn't know them all," Tseng admitted slowly, still working on salvaging the meal.

"That would actually fit the profile of both cement and metal walls," Vincent agreed. "And it honestly isn't outside the realm of possibility for distance, either, since Kariya wasn't sent far from here for his recon."

"That leaves us actually _finding_ where he _is_ before time runs out," Tseng sighed.

"...Let me help?" Auryn half offered and half asked. When the others looked at him in puzzlement, he explained, "Minerva can use energy to direct me to him, even if she can't 'explain' where he is. Using me like a dowsing rod for someone she wants to save would help narrow your search faster. I honestly don't think Fuhito will hang around there forever if he _intends_ for Kariya to be found, after he's dead, but not too long after it, either. He wouldn't want to risk getting caught."

At the words, Tseng moved the meal to the table and replied, "If you expect to be fit to help us, then eat."

"Tseng—" Vincent began tiredly.

"Gast made a good point. We _need_ to treat him like a normal person if he isn't having a panic attack, because it's _normal_ to treat a healthy person a certain way. People don't heal by being treated with kid gloves or sheltered, they heal by being treated like _normal people_. If Auryn _wasn't_ prone to panic attacks, would you even hesitate to accept his offer to help find a Turk with a timer on his lifespan?"

A long silence fell, then Vincent sighed faintly and agreed, "Very well. But Tseng, you currently have other responsibilities to tend to, and I can't take you away from them. You'll have to leave the search to the Guards." Tseng scowled, but didn't reply.

Eonna commented, "You'll have to leave me and Ansha out of anything but maybe call center duties, too. We can't stop monitoring just because Kariya is missing, and if what I've heard is true and Fuhito's in Midgar, we may just get lucky and find him on his way out or to another bolt-hole of his."

Vincent nodded and said, "Return to your post, then. Extra eyes until Kariya's found will be beneficial. And _we_ had better eat so we can get started," he added when he realized Tseng had made enough of a traditional breakfast meal for all three of them.

Everyone did as Vincent stated.


	32. 31-Staging

Staging

Tseng was noticeably tense when he got to the Hounds' office, prompting Lakis and Emma to trade looks before the blond woman approached him, catching his arm as he was about to step into the office at the back of the room. When he faced her, she asked, "What's wrong? And don't try to say 'nothing', because I know better. When you're so tense all and sundry can _see_ it, something's really bothering you."

He blinked, then looked up and around at the rest of the present Hounds, including Judet, Cissnei, Derin, Alvis, Quis, Percia...and Donnel. The three trainees were generally there during the day shift for their training, but would be allocated to either the day or night shift once they'd reached rookie status. A spark of sudden clarity when his gaze fell on Donnel made him say to the red-blond, "I think the Guards will appreciate your help at Lady Shinra's office right now."

"Why?" Donnel asked in surprise as the other Hounds frowned in confusion.

"Fuhito got his hands on Kariya, and Kariya stupidly had a plasma bomb on him for Fuhito to find. The Guards are going after Kariya and Fuhito, but they're short at least four people that I know about, so you'll be more help to them there while we wait on what the results are going to be. We can hope the Guards find the bomb while they're on the hunt, but we can't be sure of that, and there's no way we can evacuate the city quickly enough when we have no idea where Fuhito's going to set off the bomb," Tseng explained.

The others traded startled looks, then Lakis asked, "Hold on, how do you even know Fuhito will do something like that? It would seem counter-productive to set it off in Midgar."

"Depending on the person's goal, it may well be," the Wutain shrugged. "But no. In Fuhito's case, he just wants to kill as many people as he can, without killing himself until everyone else is dead. So yes, Midgar is going to suffer for that bomb, and given the fact that we're already on a time limit just to find Kariya before he's killed, we don't have either the manpower or the capability of finding it before time runs out. Donnel, head up and give them a hand." The others paled as Donnel ran out, expression terse.

"You'll want to call Reno back from out in the city. None of the rest of the Hounds should be away from the building," Derin told him. "And I'm also guessing you'll want us to stay here until we know the result."

"I do, and thank you for telling me about Reno. I'll send a message to all of the off-duty Hounds to let them know to rest while they can, but to be ready to go on a moment's notice, and to tell them to get their asses back here as soon as they can." He paused, then looked at Percia and said, "You'll probably also want to get in touch with Shears and the rest of your new network to tell them to either get out of Midgar or head for the core—since Fuhito's hiding somewhere in there, I doubt he would bomb it. In the meantime, work on files and inputting reports, and Derin, join Ansha and Eonna to keep an eye on the cameras to see if you can find Fuhito at any point during the day."

With their agreement, he entered the office and sat behind the desk, pulling out his PHS to find the message addresses for all of the Hounds he knew were off-duty then—all the ones who hadn't been in the room when he'd arrived. Once he had them all, he composed an urgent message telling them: _If you aren't in Shinra Headquarters, get back here now. If you're here, you're on emergency alert. Get some rest while you can, but be ready to move out as first responders on a moment's notice. We have a terrorist bomber in the city and little chance of finding the bomb before it goes off._

Sending it as an urgent message would wake everyone up if they were sleeping, or pull them away from whatever they were doing if they were awake, so they wouldn't be able to ignore it. He was marginally surprised to get a call about five minutes later from Reno, the other young man asking, "So if we got a bomber, why in all fuck ain't we lookin' for 'im?"

"I hope you're not somewhere others could overhear you..." Tseng sighed faintly.

"Nah, the chick's too sloshed ta hear a damned thing, even if she _wasn't_ knocked right out, yo," Reno replied in a smirking tone. "The bomber?"

"Fuhito," Tseng sighed. "And we only know about it because I happened to leave my apartment while Vincent was trying to get in touch with Kariya. The Guards are working on that end, but Kariya's plasma bomb is in Fuhito's hands, and there's far too much city for us to cover to hope we'd find it before it blows."

After a long, startled silence, the red haired Turk asked, "So...didn't the Lady give 'im orders ta ditch that bomb?"

"She did. Apparently, he didn't listen." Reno snorted, so Tseng said, "And now we have to deal with the fallout. Now, get back here so you won't be in the possible damage zone."

"Got it. Be back there soon, yo," Reno agreed, then hung up.

Done with that, he quickly also found Gast's number in his PHS—it was no secret the Guards often worked with him in his research or attempts to undo the Science Department's damage—and called it. The older man answered it with, "To what do I owe the early morning call? Something for Janelle?"

"No. Not directly at least. Your ladies probably know about the search for a missing Turk?" he questioned. At the affirmative noise the man made, he said, "Well, I'm calling to tell you to take them and get out of Midgar for awhile—definitely for today, maybe longer. Thanks to said missing Turk, Fuhito has a plasma bomb to use on the city, and we have no way of knowing where or when he'll set it off. I'd rather none of you be here to possibly get caught in the blast."

For a long moment, the man was quiet, but then he sighed and said, "All right, I'll have everyone here pack up a few things and we'll be out of the city within the hour."

"Thank you," the Wutain breathed in relief.

"Thank _you_ for letting us know the situation is so dire. We'll be in touch later, when we've stopped somewhere for the night," Gast replied.

"All right. Take care," Tseng agreed, then hung up.

He wasn't entirely sure there were any other arrangements he could make at that point, so he just sighed and shook his head tiredly. It occurred to him that he might want to call Verdot to alert him to the situation, since he was due to return the next day, but really...What difference would it make? It was an extra pair of hands, a more skilled commander...But under the circumstances, Tseng knew emergency and search and rescue protocol as well as he and Vincent did, so all he needed to do was make sure he had as much of a plan as it was possible to have. No, bringing Verdot back early with this kind of emergency was about as useless as trying to bring him back during an invasion they had to respond to immediately.

Speaking of protocol and plans, Tseng rose to go to the bookshelf filled with Shinra's protocols for different situations and found the ones for search and rescue due to city damage. Refreshing his memory and being able to have multiple options for plans to start with when all Hellfire (literally) broke loose was his best bet for functionality. He'd wasted enough time as a messenger already, and Lady Shinra would be taking care of the other element of things—reducing damage to the city—so literal first response was _his_ territory.

With that thought in mind, he went to work.

FoWD

Vincent opened the door to Lady Shinra's office, Auryn following behind him a little nervously. As they stepped into the room, it became obvious that the available Guards were there—Tseng was still filling in for Verdot, Ansha and Eonna were with the cameras, Verde and Ruluf were on a mission in the Slums, and Kariya...As Vincent had been about to pull the door shut, Donnel ran up, his expression pinched, slipping in past Vincent. The black haired Turk then moved to Lady Shinra's desk as he and Auryn scanned the room, seeing Freyra and Illis looking pale and jittery as Rude stood with them, and Terri, Lenno, and Viney looking terse as Donnel took a place between Lenno and Viney.

"We weren't expecting you, Donnel," Lady Shinra commented to him.

"Tseng told me what happened and told me to help here—I'm the only one of the Hounds he can actually do that with, since I'm just as much a Guard," Donnel replied.

The others were silent for a moment, then Vincent said, "That's one extra pair of eyes and hands, then. Thank you." He then faced Lady Shinra and said, "But we have one other problem we weren't aware of, besides a missing Turk. Eonna told you about the situation, but she didn't know that he's been keeping a plasma bomb on him—a bomb now in Fuhito's hands."

Lady Shinra's eyes widened in horror as she said, "That means I need to send people to deactivate the inter-Plate support grids, because otherwise, we risk losing _all_ of Midgar, and I don't believe for a moment that Fuhito won't use it. The only question is 'When?' I would have offered Infantry and SOLDIER support, but..."

"The Plate needs to be as safe-guarded as we can make it, hopefully before Fuhito acts," Vincent nodded. "Which leaves the search for Kariya to the Guards in the Turks."

"Why's Auryn here if we're going out for a search like that?" Terri asked, gaze worriedly on the younger blond.

"I'm getting to that," Vincent nodded. His gaze moved to Donnel. "When this is over, you'll need to stay to have your memory modified again. For this search, though, all of you need to realize our best chance of finding Kariya on time is Auryn—and the reason can't fall into the Hounds' hands."

"Are you sure about this, Vincent?" Lady Shinra asked, gaze intent.

"He never got around to telling Lucrecia he can hear the Lifestream just as much as Ifalna and her daughter can," Vincent replied evenly. Everyone's eyes widened in shock, except for Auryn's and Vincent's. "We only found out when we checked with him while looking for Kariya and he informed us he's been captured by Fuhito. Apparently, the Lifestream wants to help us find him, but it can't give us the kind of directions we would be able to use. The next best option is for the Lifestream to use energies Auryn can follow to their source, and to Kariya by extension. He explained it as a form of dowsing, so it's not precise, but it _will_ narrow the search faster. By extension, there's a good chance we'll meet some members of AVALANCHE or Fuhito directly."

"Everyone in pairs at all times, then, no matter what," Lady Shinra answered. "Choose your pairs now." As she said the words, Terri snatched Freyra and Lenno joined Illis. Rude and Donnel nodded to one another, and Viney joined Auryn and Vincent. "Hopefully, you'll all be able to stay with Auryn as he works out which way to go, but if you're attacked—that may not be possible. Where are you headed?"

"Into the core pillar. If anything ever was there, it's obviously been appropriated—we shouldn't meet anything more dangerous than some monsters and AVALANCHE," Vincent explained.

The Vice President nodded and pushed herself to her feet. "I'll be in the company of Lazard, Rufus, and the SOLDIERs until you return. Head out, stay safe, and keep in touch if you need anything."

"Good luck keeping the President from realizing what you're doing," Vincent replied in faint, wry amusement. "Let's go, Guards. We have a man to find." With that, he led the way from the room, catching Auryn's elbow to lead him out as he did.

It didn't take long for the group to get to the Sector 1 train station, and from the station onto the tracks. Maintenance paths weren't far from any one track system or station, and some Sectors were even linked through such paths which were open to the civilian population. They, however, weren't heading for the civilian areas—they were heading deeper into the core, and they began by finding a maintenance elevator which took them down a few levels.

As they stepped out, Vincent faced Auryn and said, "The rest of this is up to you, now. We know it may take you time on occasion to determine where you need to go, so don't start stressing yourself—that'll make it harder for you to work it out."

Drawing in a deep breath, Auryn gave a small nod and closed his eyes as he asked Minerva, _:Can you direct me to him now that I'm closer?:_ With the question, he showed her an image of Kariya.

_:A trail of his energy to follow his path—I will enhance it for your sight to find it. There are points where it weakens, and you may need to search for the next nearest point. That should be sufficient...I sincerely hope it will be, as there is little more I will be able to do to direct you on paths you would be able to follow,:_ she replied.

_:Thanks,:_ he answered, opening his eyes again to scan his surroundings.

There was no path immediately visible, so she directed him left down the passage. He went, the Turks following closely, weapons at the ready, and when they came to a crossing path, he found the 'energy trail' Minerva was generating for him. She was right to say it was faint, but for the most part, it acted a great deal like a thread meant to help a person find their way. As such, he began following it where it led, running into blank walls along the way. It was just luck that at the first of those walls with hidden doors, three Bombs were floating around the area, and even more luck for Illis to trigger one's explosive self-destruct almost right in front of the wall the path vanished through.

As the others quickly defeated the other two and Illis took a healing Potion, she stood gazing at the broken wall, prompting Lenno to ask her, "What's the matter, Illis?" The others turned to look as well.

Rather than answer immediately, she asked, "Auryn, where did we need to go from here?"

"Through the wall where you're standing," he answered nervously.

"Then it's a good thing the Bomb blew itself up just here, because there's a hall on the other side of this wall, and we'd never have known it otherwise," she answered, pointing directly in front of her.

Lenno moved over to peer through the hole, which was about a foot wide where it showed the hall Illis meant, though the damage to the wall had cause an indent about two and a half feet wide. "She's right. That should mean there's a catch or trigger for a door somewhere nearby."

It didn't take them long to find it and keep moving, Auryn in the lead, though sometimes he had to stop or advance cautiously as the trail he was following faded for a few moments. Every time he came to a supposedly blank wall, they would begin searching for another catch or trigger to open it into a door which led to another hall they could follow. They had also gone down several levels by the time they found a wall parting down the middle and sliding sideways—

And found themselves stepping into what could have been the waiting room of a hospital in the city, including the harsh glare of the lights. Other than the largely unpainted, concrete walls (those were like what they had already been passing through), the largest indication of the possible existence of people in the area was the lights. Up until they had stepped into the 'hospital lobby', there had been emergency lights at best, or they had been relying on flashlights Viney and Rude had brought along (flashlights which were promptly put away with the power in the 'hospital').

"...I think we just found Eonna's 'ghost hospital'," Lenno commented tightly.

"I agree with the sentiment," Vincent sighed faintly. "Auryn, stay close to us. It's likely this will be where we meet AVALANCHE."

"Yeah," the blond agreed, turning his attention to finding the thread of energy again, which was actually made more difficult by the light. After all, a glowing thread stood out in darkness, but was barely visible in light.

FoWD

Lazard was pinching the bridge of his nose as he listened through the earpiece he had for large-scale operations to get reports from the SOLDIERs in their various teams for the operations. Lady Shinra was watching him quietly from a seat she had by the window of his office, where she could look out over the city from, and Rufus was with her, sitting not far away as he went over some papers. Those were protocols for various reasons why they may be detaching the Plate Sectors from one another, looking for something viable in case the President realized what was going on before the bomb went off.

Currently, three of his teams, the ones in line with Reactors 1, 4, and 5, were stuck in places, the gears and locking grid pieces so old they were actually resistant to being moved. Of them, the worst ones seemed to be 4 and 5, though 4 had the excuse of leakage from a sewer system failure a couple years ago. It was all-together gooey and unpleasant on that route, and he almost regretted having put Sephiroth in charge there. Genesis was heading the team aiming for Reactor 8, where they hadn't yet encountered any notable difficulty. The one who had to deal with the problems in 5 was Angeal, and because they were at one of the literal locks, there was very little they could do.

In the normal course of events, the Sectors would never need to be detached from one another, so the system hadn't actually been designed for functional movement. While Midgar was in the process of being built (as it was, a few Sectors were still being completed), engineers had run into the problem of what kind of support was _actually_ needed to keep the Plate from sagging and falling into the area below. Theoretically, the core support pillar, the Reactor support pillars, and the central Sector support pillars should have been able to support the weight of the Plate. And they could, but no matter what they built the Plate with, the edges began to sag from the weight on them.

When they realized that, they also realized the Sectors would need an additional support grid which would be installed as the Sectors were being built, a grid which locked the Plate Sectors to one another and helped hold their extremities up. It operated on the premise of weight distribution, spreading out and equalizing the weight over a larger area, and in most cases, carrying the weight right to the support pillars. Nothing was going to slip and fall over by removing the grid, but if they left it detached for too long, the edges of the Sectors would start to buckle and crumble. For their purposes, 'too long' was easily a month, likely longer, though they really wouldn't want to leave it longer, as the Sectors would already have begun to warp slightly by then and returning the pieces to their proper places would become much harder, state of the Plate topside aside.

They were just very lucky the secondary grid had been an afterthought and had therefore needed to be put into place in pieces which could then be moved, or removed. Assuming the parts would move.

An idea occurred to him and he said into his headset, "Commander Hewley, it may be possible for you to use some of the smaller beams you pulled apart earlier to lever the top beam out of its self-made notch. Of course, you'll need a good bit of power to hoist the beam like that, so take your SOLDIERs for that, and the Infantry can be ready to move it aside so you can start detaching the rest."

"We'll give that a try, thanks," Angeal agreed, and Lazard heard him giving orders to the others with him about how they were going to work things.

He was suddenly glad the teams were working below the city streets, where no one could see them, because if they were in view of the population, there would be a lot of questions, most of them unpleasant. Search and rescue response later was going to be fun...Especially if the teams had to emerge onto the streets from in those grid-work tunnels.

FoWD

It hadn't taken long for Kariya to realize the ceiling was dropping lower and lower towards him, and to realize what that meant. While he was pretty much resigned to his fate, he was still fully aware how incredibly painful it was going to be, and if the rate of the ceiling's descent didn't change, it would also be prolonged _a lot_ more than he would have liked. Well, he didn't 'like' the whole situation, but dying fast would have been far preferred over the slow death he was going to get.

There had been one time when he'd been about twenty years younger, and more foolish than he was now, that he'd gotten his sleeve caught in a machine. The machine had been running at the time, and he'd been unable to free his sleeve, with no one near enough to help him before his arm was pulled into the mouth of the machine. Others had rushed over at his yells for help to try to turn it off, but in the meantime, he'd had to watch his arm slowly, slowly bend and snap in the machine. He hadn't been _able_ to turn his gaze away from the sickening sight.

Honestly, he couldn't recall anything more painful than the prolonged bending of his bones until they finally, finally snapped—he'd been so far in shock just from the bending that he'd been beyond being _able_ to scream by the time his arm finally broke. To apply the pain he'd felt then to his _entire body_ wasn't a pleasant thought, and if he hadn't been resigned to it already, he'd likely have become physically, violently ill from the realization.

Either way, he only had two feet of space left when he heard the seal on the door release and the door open, but a look showed Fuhito pointing a laser gun at him as the man asked, "So, what's your decision, Death God of the Battlefield?"

Tucking his hands under his head to cushion it, he replied, "Even if I was still inclined to terrorism, your goals are sickening, and I'd have to refuse. So yeah, I'm just going to lounge here and enjoy what little time I have left before the pain starts, if that's okay with you?"

Fuhito snorted and agreed, "As you wish, though it's a pity you, of all people, would make such a foolish decision."

"You'll turn me into a martyr and sign your own death warrant, so I have no regrets," Kariya replied in a dry tone. "You'll get all this back and more from the Turks."

"You hope," Fuhito smirked, then rose and shut the door.

As the seal returned to place, Kariya sighed, closing his eyes as he muttered, "Sorry Auryn, Shalua, Shelke...I guess I won't be seeing you again..."

It was a good thing he'd closed his eyes, because the lights came on around then. Looked like the sick bastard was going to record his death, too.


	33. 32-Death's Visit

Death's Visit

Auryn finally found the path the energy thread took and led them down a hall, then to an elevator, which they took down. It didn't go down only one floor, or even two—it went down several before opening and letting them out in darkened halls using emergency and nighttime floor lights rather than the main power. As Auryn found his direction more easily, the others were readying their weapons—a good thing, as when they rounded a corner onto a wider hall, they finally found evidence of people in the form of a large group of AVALANCHE's members.

After a pause, a harsh voice called from near the back, "Kill them! Kill them _now_!"

"Fuhito..." Auryn growled at hearing the voice, only keeping himself from charging after the man because Viney seized his elbow and dragged him back around the corner they had just come from to keep him out of the way of the fight which had broken out at the yell.

It hadn't just been AVALANCHE reacting to the order—the Turks knew they were fighting for their lives, and they had reacted both hard and quickly. All of them but Viney and Vincent, who had gotten Auryn out of the way of the battle zone the hall had become. And as much as none of them especially liked it, the fact was that the AVALANCHE members were both numerous and had staying power. It was highly likely the battle would go on for longer than they had, so Vincent turned to Auryn.

The man said, "We have to keep going. Where do we go from here?"

"Uh...Past the battle, but I can't tell from here how _much_ past," Auryn replied, peeking around the corner.

"It's not the hall they came from?" Vincent asked thoughtfully.

"No, definitely past that," the blond agreed.

"We'll make sure you get through safely," the Director of the Turks stated, then faced the corner again and called around it, "Rude, Donnel, clear us a path!" After a moment, he looked back over at Viney and Auryn and said, "Viney, take the lead. Auryn, follow him, but stay back about four feet so you're outside his blade range. I'll be right behind you."

Both nodded and Viney stepped out from the cross-hall again, rapier-like blade drawn and ready to fight. Rude and Donnel had done a good job of clearing a path near the wall for them, a path Viney led them down, with only two stops for him to fight a man and one other from behind who Vincent shot. It didn't take long to bypass the battle, where Auryn paused for a few moments to search for the trail. It had faded out, so he moved further down the hall until he found it again—right near another place where it disappeared into a supposedly blank wall.

As Viney and Vincent searched for the trigger, Donnel and Rude caught up to them, making Vincent give them a questioning look. Donnel replied, "It's still going to take the others awhile, but they're holding their own, so we came after you—it's unlikely there won't be any others here to fight."

He nodded—and turned back to the wall-turned-door as Viney grinned triumphantly, "Here!" and it opened.

"Rude, Donnel, go ahead to meet whatever comes. Auryn, keep directing us, but stay behind them. Viney, you and I will stay behind him until we need to fight again," Vincent immediately assessed. With everyone's agreement, they moved forward.

It felt very strange to Auryn to be so—protected. Literally, they were making sure he wasn't going to be fighting, though he could sort of grasp the reason, given how he was their only real chance to find Kariya on time. He also knew it was because he wasn't in a frame of mind allowing him to fight at the moment, and that actually stung on several levels. Right then, he couldn't say anything against it, and didn't want to either, at least not until after they had Kariya back safely. Even then, he couldn't deny the simple fact that he wasn't quite ready to fight, yet.

So, he directed them down a few more halls, knowing they were close now. Again, they came upon members of AVALANCHE as they turned onto another hall—a hall with a mark near the door at the end which Auryn recognized from the image Minerva had shown him. The door was a vacuum seal type, and the four guards at it were well-armed, forcing Viney to drag him back into the hall they'd just come from again. Donnel and Rude jumped right into the battle, but these ones weren't going to go down easily—and were easily twice as strong as the ones the Turks had first met. Vincent was able to shoot one of them down, but if he tried to do more, he risked hitting his own men, so just waited with Viney and Auryn.

Suddenly, he cursed faintly and said, "Viney, stay with Auryn. It looks like several new ones are joining the battle from that one hall across the way. Auryn, where do you need to go?"

"The door at the end of the hall," he replied surely.

Vincent and Viney traded startled looks, then the older man sighed and commented, "It figures we'd need to get to the one place which means clearing out the battle ahead of us, first..." He then jumped forward as the sound of battle grew louder and more chaotic.

Viney went to the corner to check around it for the state of the battle. In this narrower hall, there was no way to clear a path, so he sighed and said, "Looks like we have to wait."

At that moment, Auryn felt Minerva track a line for him—right through the walls—to let him get past the battle without bringing the whole upper core down on them. While he 'could have' put paths through any of the walls they'd come to up to that point, in the core support pillar in Midgar, his doing so could completely destabilize the core by his removing support beams by accident. That, in turn, would decimate Midgar, so he avoided doing it. Now, there was only one reason Minerva would have given that path to him when they were already so close—they were nearly out of time.

Auryn turned and put his hands on the wall he was leaning against, which was also the one Minerva had given him the path through. As the wall folded back from his hands, he dove into the resulting tunnel. Drawn by the flash of light from behind him, Viney spun to face him, gaped for a moment at what he saw, then quickly dove into the tunnel after him. It was a pretty long tunnel through solid concrete and metal rebar, but it came out about five feet from the door they needed to get to, which was on the other side of the battle.

Quickly, Auryn scrambled out of the tunnel and ran to the door, knowing they didn't have time anymore—Kariya would be dead before the battle would be over. Viney followed him out, and immediately jumped at a man who had noticed the movement and turned to attack the blond, taking the advantage of attacking from the rear. With the piercing sword style Viney fought with, that was a very efficient way to kill people, and it was obvious by his attention to the battle that he was trusting Kariya's safety to Auryn.

Somehow, that made Auryn feel worse.

Still, he had to get Kariya out of there. It didn't take much fiddling with the controls to get the door open—and as soon as it did, he realized the ceiling was only about a foot above the ground. It lowered quickly enough to be noticed as he watched, so he knelt and put his hands on the floor, creating metal posts against the walls to hold it up. He had found out the hard way in the past that such things would only hold for a very short time under such pressure, but often had the side effect of causing a quick death when they failed. If the 'crushing object' could be moved, those would normally force it to do so, which was rare, but in this case, it just might be enough time for Kariya.

Speaking of which, he quickly knelt to look under the lowered ceiling to hold out a hand to the shocked man, calling, "Come on, hurry!"

"Auryn?" he gaped at the blond.

"Later! Get out from there—those posts won't last long, and you _don't_ want to be under that when they give out!" Auryn's dire words were punctuated by a groan from the mechanisms lowering the ceiling.

Rolling over, Kariya scrambled towards the door and reached out to grab Auryn's hand. A moment later, something in the sound of the gears above changed, and the blond's eyes widened before he grabbed the hand tight and threw himself backwards as hard as he could, pulling Kariya with him. An ear-splitting screech filled the air, followed by a thumping sound accompanied by a gust of air—

And Auryn panted in shock as he felt the older man's weight across the length of his body, assuring him Kariya was still alive. Reaching up, he wrapped his arms around the man, whispering, "I'm so sorry..." as he closed his eyes to hold back tears. He'd had close calls before, but they had rarely been _that_ close! "I'm so sorry!"

He felt Kariya wrap an arm around his back, then move to a kneeling position, the arm around the blond pulling him up with the Turk's movement. As the man tried to soothe him—something which wasn't working well at the moment—the battle down the hall finally ended and Vincent approached them, looking relieved. As he got within easy speaking distance, Kariya asked, "What's Auryn apologizing to me for?"

Vincent blinked as he halted, then sighed and shook his head. "He's still blaming himself for the fact that you were distracted when I sent you out yesterday. Speaking of, if you _ever_ tell me you're fine again when you know you're preoccupied, I'll kill you myself. Am I clear, Kariya?"

"Crystal," Kariya answered in faint amusement. "I've just had the lesson quite well enforced." He then turned his attention back to the blond and said, "And as for you, Auryn—even if you can't trust Vincent's word on the issue, then at least trust _mine_ when I say it's _not_, in any way, _your_ fault _I_ was an idiot."

"But if I hadn't told you—" Auryn began.

"Then you'd have begun to resent me," the older man replied flatly. "I like that less."

A long silence followed as Auryn tried to figure out a response to that—and just kept coming up blank. Instead, since Minerva sent a flash of the man's injury to him, he just hugged the man tighter for a moment before sitting back from him and saying, "You're hurt. Here." Holding his hand to the injury at the back and side of the man's head, he activated his healing ability to repair the damage. Kariya blinked in surprise, then reached up to probe the area as Auryn eyed him uncertainly.

"Did you just fix a concussion?" the man asked in surprise after a moment.

"If your head's clear now, then yes," Auryn agreed with a faint smile. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm happy to see you feeling courageous enough to be out here," Kariya replied with a smile.

"All right, Viney?" Vincent suddenly asked worriedly, attracting their attention to the other dark haired Turk.

Viney was nearby, his sword helping to support his weight as he leaned on the wall and favored one leg—the pant leg was cut open and blood drained down it, showing a rather deep wound. He was also very pale, whether from pain, blood loss, or something else, they didn't know. Donnel and Rude joined them, the red-blond man commenting, "Some had poisoned weapons. I hope that wasn't done by one of those."

"It was," Viney answered faintly, then grimaced. "Pretty strong, too. A normal Antidote didn't work on it."

Auryn scrambled over to him, hesitated as he got close (he couldn't quite prevent the fear which came from him being 'surrounded' after the day he'd just had), then lifted a hand to the wound as he'd done with Kariya. For that one, like with Kariya's, he used a variant of Full Cure to clear out any infection or poison (or anything else unsavory) and repair the physical damage. Some of the poison, a sickly orange colored, viscous liquid, leaked from the wound as it was forced from Viney's system, and Auryn realized the other man wouldn't have lived long enough to get help.

"There. Feeling better?" he asked a rather shocked—and far less pale—Viney warily.

"Much. Did you just repair a damaged artery and drag out the poison which had already taken hold in my body?" he asked in amazement.

"You wouldn't have lived if I hadn't d—" Auryn began, now really worried.

"Auryn, I'm not complaining—I'm really grateful," Viney cut him off with a half amused and half exasperated huff. "But even most _trained doctors_ would have had trouble with something you fixed so easily, so _of course_ I'm surprised. And in awe. In a good way. Thank you." Auryn could hear Kariya chuckling in the background.

It suddenly hit him that everything was okay again, Kariya was safe, and as far as he could tell, none of the Turks had died. And none of them were going to torture him for his abilities. The effect of the release of his tension set him off-balance, and he flopped over onto his back as the others gasped in alarm, "Auryn!"

He felt Kariya lifting his head and shoulders, so opened his eyes to look at the man as he asked worriedly, "Are you all right?"

"Sorry, I've been tense since I found out you were missing, and...I guess releasing that suddenly...I don't think I can walk right away," Auryn replied tiredly.

The man smiled and lifted him to carry him in both arms as he said to Vincent, "Let's get out of here."

"This way," Vincent agreed readily, leading the way back the way they had come.

FoWD

It was sometime after the noon hour (he had no idea how long, since he'd been meeting with a group of his new buddies in the Sector 6 Slums for lunch), and he'd still seen no traces of trouble. In a way, the alert from Percia was actually heart-warming, since it meant she was worried about their safety, but he just didn't see that a bomb so powerful could even exist in hand-held size, let alone that someone would use it on a large city. As such, he just went about his usual day of information gathering, and as he walked down the street, he typed a text message into his PHS to forward to Shears about something he'd heard at his meeting.

As he hit the send button, he heard a deafening '_boom_' from above, and felt a shock wave hit him, knocking him—and everyone around him—off their feet. Signs fell over, random assorted objects were knocked to the ground or broken, and even windows which weren't fixed in place shattered. As a solid piece of heavy metal landed next to him with an agonizing ringing noise, he rolled over to look up—

And felt his heart in his throat as the bending, groaning, and twisting of metal above made him well aware that the Plate above him was falling. The groaning and twisting gave way to the thunder-like, all-invasive rumbling of total collapse before he could process more than the fact that he couldn't reach safety from his current location—he was nowhere near enough to the city's core, and much too far from the edge of the Plate.

A moment later, the remains of the damaged Plate were landing, and as he felt first agony, then nothingness, his last thought was that he should have listened to Percia's message.

FoWD

It wasn't normal, Angeal thought to himself as they made their way back towards Shinra Headquarters through the tunnels beneath the streets above. They were running a bit behind the other teams, each led by a First, due to the sheer number of beams which had managed to effectively stick themselves together in the time they'd been in place. Each team had ten SOLDIERs (a First, four Seconds, and five Thirds) and another twenty Infantry of various ranks, which had been about all they could send into the tunnels and still be practical.

Yes, there was the threat of a bomb, but they should have been sent to find the bomb, not detach the Sectors from one another. He knew Shinra wasn't foolish enough to destroy the city, so he doubted this would be used for something 'harmful', but what bothered him so much was that it looked more like they were just trying to allocate sacrificial lambs, not _save_ people. He wasn't sure he liked that, and it was actually _worse_ that it was coming from Lazard and Lady Shinra. He'd always taken _her_ as the one more invested in people's lives...

"So...will this actually cause Midgar to start collapsing or something?" one of the new Seconds on his team asked, one Angeal knew as Zack Fair. The boy had little to no attention span at sixteen, but he brought good cheer and energy to everything he did—with his help, they had managed to detach several of the beams which had been stuck to one another along the way.

"No, not unless they leave it for several months," Angeal told him. "It won't have any effect at all on the city until at least a month has passed—I would think we'd have orders to put it all back together by then."

"Why can't we go look for the bomb instead?" Zack asked then, and Angeal had to sigh.

"I don't have all the details, so I don't know. This is a way mitigate damage by making sure only one portion of the city can fall, rather than the whole thing, but believe me when I say I'd rather be looking for the bomb, too," he told the others with him. He got back several agreements to the sentiment, both from the ones behind him, like Zack, and from ones in front.

At least the return trip wasn't going to be as slow as getting to the Reactor had been.

"When do we get to eat?" another of the SOLDIERs behind him, a Second named Luxiere, asked cheerfully, producing laughs from both Infantry and SOLDIERs alike across the entire team. Both Zack and Luxiere were only a couple feet behind him, and several others were further back down the tunnel.

"When we get back to—" Angeal began—

Only to be cut off by a huge '_boom_' and a shaking sensation on the heels of a shock wave which forced nearly all of them to the ground harshly, channeled as it had been through the tunnel. The grating and screeching of bending and twisting metal caused him to roll over and sit up, facing back the way they had come...And he immediately felt ill as he watched the tunnel they had just passed through bending and warping—taking the Infantry and SOLDIERs behind him with it.

Near him, as the metal bent and twisted, Zack and Luxiere scrambled for hand-holds, only managing to find them—barely—as the twisting metal tore away and fell, leaving behind jagged bits of beams, supports, walkways, and pipes. Not far away, a sewage drain was pouring down, and Zack had managed to catch hold of one of the rebar bands which would normally hold the drain in place. Luxiere had caught Zack's hand, and with the shaking, it was all either of them could do to hold on. Beyond those two (and he was only barely on solid ground!), the rest had gone down with the material from the two Sector Plates, half his team just—gone.

The shaking had largely stopped by then, so Angeal called, "Hold on, Zack, Luxiere!" and scrambled over to get a good look at how far the two were from him—over the damaged edge of the Plate, he'd need time to get there, at least two minutes to find his footing to keep himself secure, if not longer.

Time they didn't have, as Zack's grip was weakening and starting to slip—and he realized why as he managed to get his foot onto a bent-but-stable beam out over the hole. The younger's hand had been cut at some point, and he was trying to grip the rebar with a hand both damaged and bloody. Either way, he was going to try his damnedest to get to them on time, so kept making his way towards them, gaze checking every few moments to see how they were doing.

"Luxiere, _hold on_!" Zack suddenly called to the other Second, making Angeal look over again—and seeing how Luxiere held one hand in front of his face for a moment before giving Angeal a look of regret.

"You can't hold us both anymore, Zack, otherwise we'll _both_ die," Luxiere replied in a voice all too calm. Angeal's eyes widened as he realized what the other man was going to do. He forced himself to keep moving.

Apparently, Zack realized it too, as his own eyes widened and he gasped, "No, don't!"

A moment later, a wryly amused Luxiere gripped Zack's wrist so tightly the younger SOLDIER was forced to let him go, and in the next moment, he was falling.

"No!" Zack—and several of the other survivors still in the tunnel—yelled all at once, then Zack's own grip suddenly released. Whether it was from the pain, being at his limit of endurance, or because of the horror of what Luxiere had just done (or all of them combined), Angeal wasn't sure, but by then, he was _just_ close enough to catch Zack's wrist by lunging forward, while still keeping his grip on his current hand-hold.

"Let me go!" Zack yelled tearfully to Angeal, the pain in his voice causing the older SOLDIER to close his eyes for a moment. "Let me go! Luxiere—!"

Opening his eyes, Angeal replied with feeling, "He sacrificed his life so _you could live_, Zack, so don't you _dare_ betray the gift he gave you by following him!"

The boy's eyes went wide for a long moment, then he gave a nod, tears in his eyes. Angeal was able to lever him up so the younger man would be able to hold onto his back until he could find his footing to make his way back to the tunnel. With Angeal instructing him, he made his way near enough for the others waiting there to grab him and pull him into the tunnel, then did the same for Angeal as he got back.

For several long minutes, what was left of the team sat and stared out at what was left of Sectors 5 and 6. About a quarter, if not a third, of each Sector was gone. Some of it was literally just _gone_, as there was too little debris in the Slums crushed below them for everything in the zone of destruction to have fallen. Over where the Reactor support pillar was, the Reactor had literally been knocked over and hit the ground on the far side of the pillar, taking the top fifth or so of the pillar with it. From the remaining pillar spewed a Mako fountain which was rising several floors above the street level on the Plate, raining down raw Mako in large quantities on about half of the destroyed area below, both in the city limits and outside them.

"Holy Hellfire..." Zack breathed in shock. "Is that really from the bomb we were detaching the Sectors because of?"

"...That's my best guess," Angeal agreed with a tired sigh. "I suddenly realize why this was the option we had to work with, and not trying to find the bomb."

Several of his men nodded in stunned horror, only interrupted by Angeal's PHS ringing as a frantic Lazard tried to reach him. Apparently, his headset had quit transmitting at some point.

Unfortunately, they still had work to do, work which included getting themselves in shape to go down there and find survivors.

He had a new worst day on record, and Zack especially was going to have a hard time out there. All they could do was keep moving forward and hope for the best, because 'time' was one thing none of them had right then.


	34. 33-First Response

First Response

As the five Turks and Auryn, who was still being carried by Kariya, made their way back towards the others (and the exit), Kariya asked, "So, where is this?"

"A former hospital facility in the core pillar," Vincent replied with a faint sigh as they stepped into the first elevator on the return trek. "By the way—I can safely say you're going to be in _big_ trouble if you _ever_ make another plasma bomb. Lady Shinra had _already told_ you not to make anymore after you used up your last one, and she'll be telling Scarlet not to let you fiddle there anymore."

"When did she say that?" Viney asked in puzzlement.

"It's coming," the Director replied in a dry tone. "We had other things to deal with at the time."

"Speaking of, you haven't happened to find it, have you?" Kariya asked hopefully.

"We haven't," Vincent answered. "The only thing we _can_ do is what she's working on now—sending SOLDIERs and Infantry to detach the inter-Sector Plate supports so what happens to one won't happen to the others. We have no way of knowing where or when he'll set it off, just that it'll be somewhere in Midgar, likely soon, because Fuhito won't pass up that kind of opportunity."

"How do you know that—about Fuhito, I mean? I had guessed it was him, but you guys wouldn't have..." Kariya blinked in surprise.

"We have Auryn to thank for that," the older man shrugged. "I'll let him tell you the details later."

They stepped off the elevator and retraced their steps until they found the other Turks, all four alive, tired, and with minor injuries. They had found places to sit against the walls between the bodies of the AVALANCHE members and the route the others with Auryn had taken. At their approach, they rose and approached Kariya to greet him back with relief and make sure Auryn was all right. Once they had done so, the group all headed back in the direction of the exit, making their way from one elevator to the next until they'd gotten back to the very first one they'd taken to go down.

It was while they were in the elevator, just after it had begun rising, that they felt the entire pillar rock and shudder as a dull 'boom' reached them—but they quickly turned their attention to Auryn as he screamed in agony and held his hands to his head. They were all suddenly thankful Kariya had insisted on carrying him, at least until they were back at the train station, as it meant he couldn't fall and hurt himself. Grating, bending, and screeching reached them faintly, and another rumbling sound—which resulted in another scream from Auryn as tears ran down his cheeks.

Finally, from beyond the elevator, still silence reached them, and Freyra asked apprehensively above the noise of Auryn's tears, "What...just happened?"

Vincent's expression was grim as he met Kariya's gaze, and it was Kariya who sighed and replied, "Fuhito just set off the plasma bomb."

The rest of the Turks paled, and Vincent pulled out his PHS to call Lady Shinra on the speaker setting so everyone else would be able to hear, who answered it with, "I take it you felt that. Who's crying?"

"We felt it. Kariya's with us. Apparently Auryn felt something a lot more than _we_ did, though. Which Sector did we just lose?" Vincent asked in reply. The elevator reached the top floor just then, so he motioned everyone off and joined them outside it as the discussion proceeded.

"Sectors," she answered, tone as grim as his.

"...Sectors?" Vincent repeated, suddenly feeling ill. "Were you not able to detach them fast enough?"

"The problem wasn't detaching them," Lazard's voice came from the other side of the call, with Lady Shinra. She had obviously also activated the speaker function. "That part worked well, and our teams had been returning from doing so. The blast came from between Sectors Five and Six, near enough to the Sector Five Reactor to destroy it along with the outer regions of both Sectors. So far, it seems the central Plate support pillar is holding in both Sectors, but that's still a huge part of the city we just lost, above and below, and to add to that the Reactor damage leaking Mako—or more like spewing it—across a large part of the area surrounding where it once sat, well..."

"Five and Six?" Vincent asked in alarm. "Ifalna and Gast?"

"Gast just sent me a message asking what the Hellfire just happened to Midgar. Apparently, they're not in the damage zone," Lady Shinra sighed. "That's one good point, and all our Turks besides your group are here—or already preparing to head out. So, for better or for worse, other than some stray Infantry and a few SOLDIERs, all our combat personnel are safe. We don't know about the status of the team on the Reactor Five route, though...We may have lost them, too."

"I'm diverting all of our combat personnel to search and rescue, with a team to try to drop an explosive on the remains of the Reactor to hopefully stem the Mako fountain it currently is. If that doesn't get stopped soon, we'll have to evacuate Midgar, the contamination will be so extreme and widespread," Lazard added. "When you lot get back, make sure you eat and all injuries are tended. Kariya and Auryn can stay behind with Lady Shinra and Rufus, and the rest of us will be joining the teams already—"

"_Janelle!_" a voice roared over the speaker system. "What in Hellfire just happened?" Everyone knew it was the President's voice.

"Report to Lazard's office as soon as you get back, Vincent," Lady Shinra said, then the call was ended on her end.

Vincent sighed and ended his own. His gaze rose to the other Turks, assessing them for a few long moments, then turned to Kariya and said, "You'll have to take my place guarding Janelle, since you're the only one of us besides Rufus who isn't being allocated to the search and rescue operation. Think you can handle both that and Auryn?"

"Sure—Auryn fixed my injury, so once I've cleaned up and changed, I'll be right as rain," Kariya agreed. "Since all the others only have minor injuries, they shouldn't take much to fix up, either, and we can only hope we can use the helicopters with that Mako fountain so nearby, but—that, I doubt, so..."

The Director nodded, then looked around at the rest of the group, himself. "As Lazard said, food and medical care for all of you, then to him for orders for search and rescue. Make sure you're all _fit_ to save others before you try _doing_ it." He got back nods, then turned to Kariya again, that time to focus on Auryn. "Can you talk with us yet, Auryn?" he asked gently.

"Felt...them die...so many...all at once...so close by...It hurts..." he managed to get out around the tears. The others paled again at the implications. "Still dying...more slowly, but dying...Not over yet..."

Vincent sighed. "I can't imagine what it would be like to feel death that way. There's a chamber off to the side of Lady Shinra's office—it's an antechamber she essentially made into a break room for the Guards. There are a couple couches there you'll be able to use to rest, all right?" Auryn gave a small nod, so silence fell and the Turks made their way back to the Shinra building.

FoWD

Agitatedly, Tseng had been pacing the outer office, most of the other present Turks in states little better than his. Every so often, he stopped by the window to look out over the city, where he was facing roughly Sectors 4 through 6. He could see others on the periphery, but his main view was those ones, which he very much found irritating just then. Usually, he was okay with waiting, but this time, knowing what was coming made the waiting so much worse, and the stress was taking its toll. Now that it was past lunch, he was beginning to wonder if Fuhito had decided to hightail it with the bomb so he could make more of them.

Suddenly, he blinked and stared out the window, gaze focusing on the border between Sectors 5 and 6, even as he watched light (and a dull boom, at his distance) blast outward from a point not too far from the Reactor. It sent a shock wave along the streets, right to the Shinra building, where it met resistance and just made the building shake for a few moments as it passed. In the meantime, he could only stare, fists clenched, at what he watched unfold below him.

The shock wave had overturned, knocked over, and destroyed everything it could on the streets. Nearer the explosion site, some cars were picked up and knocked blocks from where they'd started, some buildings were teetering or crumbling, and the streets were covered in broken glass. People, too, had been carried great distances by the shock wave, and he was sure many of them had died on impact, if they hadn't before then. Damage so extreme was mostly limited to Sectors 5 and 6, but some things, like the broken glass and people and objects being knocked down, had transferred to most of the city, to greater or lesser degrees. In addition, it seemed the outer edges of 5 and 6 opposite the explosion had tilted upwards in the process of the blast and collapse.

At the site of the explosion, however, several blocks on both sides of it had simply vanished, and between a quarter and a third of both Sectors had fallen into the Slums, leaving a ragged semi-circle around the Sector 5 Reactor. He was suddenly exceedingly grateful he'd told Gast to get the rest of his family out of the city that morning, otherwise Aeris and Nina could all too easily have been at ground zero. To make things worse, the explosion had not just damaged the Reactor, but knocked what it hadn't destroyed out into the Wastes past the city perimeter, leaving behind an unstoppered Mako pump which was spewing raw Mako several meters into the air.

"Oh, that _rat bastard_," Emma growled furiously from beside him. He knew she'd _really_ be on the warpath if her sister wasn't safely at Shinra Academy at that time of day, because their home was in the Slums—_and_ in the blast zone.

"How can _anyone_ be so cold?" Percia asked, looking shaken.

"That's the result of psychosis," Lakis answered, and rested a hand on Tseng's shoulder. "That's a nightmare, and we're not going to be able to work in the area of the Mako fountain he opened up. But for the areas we _can_ reach—we're going to have to get there fast if we want to save _anyone_."

"That's the plan," Tseng said, then pulled out his PHS to call Lazard.

"What is it, Tseng?" the man asked, apparently typing furiously.

"The Hounds are heading down into the Slums with the Infantry who are still at the barracks to start digging people out. We have command for now. When you have your numbers for SOLDIER, send some to us to help us out—I'll have people to direct them to where we're going to work from, but I'm expecting that to be in Sector Six, in the first open space or large building I can find by the hole, and under the still-stable part of the Plate."

"...All the Hounds, even the off-duty ones?" Lazard asked quickly.

"They've been on standby since this morning, so yes," Tseng agreed.

"Fine, I'll be in touch with you to let you know who's heading down to join you once I've got my end sorted. Good luck—you're going to need it," the Director of SOLDIER answered, then hung up.

Tseng pocketed his own phone and turned to look at all the Hounds—everyone who had been resting had reached the room, too. "Looks like everyone's here, so we're heading down. Our first priority is to find a place to set up to gather people in need of care, and once we have Infantry support, to start digging people out of the rubble. Once we've got a place to tell doctors and medical staff to come to, we'll get them down there. Balto, on your way, detour to the barracks to appropriate all the Infantry who aren't with the teams who were working to detach the Plate Sectors. Let me know when you're at the station in Seven."

The Wutain gave them all a look, seeing their grim determination, then gave a nod. "Let's get to work," he stated, and led the way from the office.

The Turks piled into the elevators and headed for the lobby, where they re-gathered and marched down to the train station, only Balto breaking away to go collect the Infantry. Right then, they didn't particularly need brute strength, just manpower, and the Infantry would sure give them that. The trains were still running, as the core hadn't been damaged, so they were able to take them right down to the station in the Sector 7 Slums. From there, they could take the shortcut through the fledgling 'Train Graveyard' to get to Sector 6, and Tseng had them spread out to find a viable place they could turn into an emergency camp, remembering to send Alvis, Quis, and Percia with senior Turks.

Seeing the destruction of the bomb from above had been somewhat surreal, and very little of the damage had reached the Shinra building or Sector 1, where the station topside was. Seeing it at ground level was—shocking and horrifying. On the side of the central Sector support pillar outside the blast zone, some parts were largely unharmed, but the closer to the zone of destruction a person got, the more peripheral destruction there was. Several times, Tseng found himself having to stop to free people and give them basic medical care. If a Restore Materia could fix it, great, but not all injuries could be fixed that way.

The streets were littered with debris, making navigation hard, and some of the debris which had fallen had apparently 'bounced' and spread to damage buildings outside the main bulk of the collapse. What had made it worse was the section of wall which existed in some areas between Sectors 5 and 6, a wall which hadn't been crushed neatly—rather, it had shoved some of the debris into areas which otherwise would have been fine. Well, 'fine' relatively speaking. Many buildings, especially near the fallen area, were unstable at best or completely collapsed at worst.

And then, there were the ever-accompanying pyreflies floating around wherever there had been death, which was in a large portion of the Sector 5 and 6 Slums. He wasn't sure if he appreciated their presence for the light they offered in the darkness of the ash and soot in the air from the collapse, or if it was disturbing. There was the very real possibility it was both due to the sheer degree of death there had been all at once—it was eerily like a parody of a celebration.

Finally, his PHS rang, and he saw Anki's number. "Have you found something?" he asked when he answered it.

"I think I've got an old warehouse which will work. There's a small section of one wall that was damaged by debris, but as far as I can tell, it wasn't destabilized by that, and it's got its roof, door, and all other walls intact. There are a few crates here with—oh irony of ironies—old medical blankets in them. I don't know if they have anything else in them, but the two I opened of the set has those, so it looks like our best bet. It's near the central Sector support pillar, too, so not far from the place we have to work," she replied.

"I'll head over and have a look, but you're right—that's probably the best we're going to find right now," Tseng agreed, then hung up.

Turning to head for the central Sector support pillar, he got there in record time, and was quickly able to find the place. Anki was right about it being suitable, and by what she'd pulled out of the other crates, it may have once been a storage facility for a local hospital, and they just didn't quite clear it all out when they either moved or shut it down. The hole in one wall was still filled by the bent, metal beam which had put it there, and it wasn't very big, so it would also not require much for manning to keep monsters or violent people out. As such, he established that as their base, getting in touch with Balto while he and the Infantry were on their way down, and with the doctors who would need to get there soon.

He then got in touch with all the other Turks—who all brought several injured people with them. Each. The injuries were varying degrees of severity, but if he and Anki hadn't already been working on arranging the medical equipment they'd started with, none of them could have gotten care worth anything, and would have had to just make do with a roof and four walls for protection. Once they had regrouped, he sent Emma and Doriss, both familiar with the Slums, back to the station, Doriss to guide Balto and the Infantry back to their base and Emma to do the same with the doctors. He kept half the Turks with him to be able to direct the Infantry, and sent the other half into the destruction zone to find and retrieve more injured people.

At that point, he also realized they needed a place to put the dead bodies they were sure to find, too. It didn't take long for him to decide on the mostly clear, fairly large space of ground to the side of the warehouse away from the damage, where they would be able to be laid out and either identified or taken away—assuming they didn't end up reduced to pyreflies, first. Most would never be identified for that reason, and easily as many would never be found at all due to having reverted to pyreflies before rescue and recovery workers found them. Still, for those who could, and for those the Lifestream apparently rejected so they didn't revert to pyreflies, the space would be needed.

With that grim realization, he asked that Anki direct the Infantry team who would need to deal with the bodies until, or unless, they were reduced to pyreflies. Lakis, on the other hand, he asked to deal with the doctors and the injured—he'd know the most about what they were trying to say they needed. Verde and Ruluf arrived around then, and both were familiar with the Slums, so rather than wasting time asking questions, he just asked that they start searching for people and returning them to the warehouse for medical care.

He also had to make sure they had things like water and snacks for people, especially the uninjured—though there were blessed few of those. He ended up appropriating the goods at a nearby convenience store, putting the man who owned it in touch with Lady Shinra to make sure he'd at least get back what he spent on the goods. He then put Cissnei in charge of handing out what they had, and told her what to do to get more—there were other nearby stores they could gather from, and Lady Shinra wasn't opposed to making sure the cost of the goods was paid back to the store in this situation. Sometime during that, he got a call from Lazard to say the SOLDIERs and the rest of the Turks would be on their way and arriving soon.

Every one of the Turks he'd allocated to tasks already would have Infantry with them for support, but it only left him three field commanders—likely enough if he gave them good starting positions to work from. Of course, nothing would ever really be 'enough', but for what they had, a large part of the damage zone wasn't even accessible, thanks to the Mako fountain the Reactor had become. The Infantry got there and were allocated to various tasks, three fairly large groups being sent to work from the general directions of the Sectors 4 and 6 Reactors and from the border between Sectors 5 and 6. They were only getting started when the doctors finally arrived.

FoWD

Reeve just stared at Lazard from across the other man's desk for a minute as he tried to process the fact that the other man was dead-set on trying to close the Mako fountain by blowing it up _even more_. It was no wonder Lady Shinra had called him, but—he _so_ hated arguments and confrontations. Either way, if that was Lazard's plan, he _had_ to stop him, and he had to do it fast, before there would be no way to shut off the pump anymore.

So, bracing himself for what he was about to do by interrupting Lazard and Lady Shinra's argument, he drove his knuckles as hard as he dared into the tabletop in a facsimile of a punch. It was more for noise volume than it was anything else, and the way he did it made _a lot_ of noise. At the same time, he raised his voice significantly to say, "If you _blow it up_, you'll _never be able_ to _shut it down_!"

Both Lazard and Lady Shinra turned to stare at him in surprise, so he explained, "The pumping mechanism we can reach is about five feet below where the pillar broke off, and the control room is probably open to the air. If you destroy _that_, there won't be anything we'll be able to do to stop it from pumping out that fountain of Mako. What we _need_ is to shut off the pump, which can be done at the same control room we can get to, one way or the other. Even though _humans_ can't walk into that and survive, my robots, the Cait Siths, _can_. Let me send them in to shut off the pump."

"I agree with Reeve," Scarlet's voice came from the doorway. "And when you're done with that, Reeve, come help me in my office to re-program the unmanned combat machines to do search and recovery in the irradiated zone. It's not a major priority since nearly everything there will already be dead, but who knows—someone may get really lucky. We'll be able to use the machines to dispose of the materials we now can't use safely, as well."

"All right," Reeve agreed, then turned back to Lazard expectantly.

After a silence, the man agreed, "Fine. I'll send a call ahead for Vincent to prepare for you to send in the Cait Siths. Make whatever arrangements you need with him. I'll hold off unless you tell me you can't close the fountain."

"Thank you," Reeve agreed with feeling, then ran out to get his Cait Siths ready.

FoWD

As the SOLDIERs arrived soon after the doctors, Tseng noticed most of them looking grim. While he saw Sephiroth and Angeal, he didn't see Genesis, prompting him to ask the two, "What's wrong? Where's Commander Rhapsodos?"

"I lost half my team when that bomb went off," Angeal sighed. "It wasn't pretty. They kept Genesis and a fair group up there to deal with rescue and damages around the top side of the hole, but some of his have been sent with me. Tell us where you want us to start digging them out and where you want us to take them to so we can get to work."

Lips pressing into a fine line, the Wutain said quickly, "Dead are behind the building, living in the warehouse, injured to the left and uninjured—assuming you find any of those—to the right. They can all get some food and water on the right, too. I've had the Turks scouring the area almost since we got here, and there are three teams working already, so you'll do the most good each working from the Sectors Five and Six central support pillars. We're ignoring the side to the Wastes for the time being."

"I'll take the Sector Six pillar," Sephiroth immediately stated. "You take Five, Angeal," the silver haired man added, then called his unit to him to lead them in the direction of the pillar he'd chosen.

"...I guess it's Five for me," Angeal agreed, after a fashion. "Well, that makes it easy, at least." He then called his group to him so they could set out.

The Guards joined Tseng as Angeal was walking away, Vincent asking, "Do you want me to take over or keep joint command with me?"

"I can keep some—there's no point in trying to switch leaders in the middle, but I'd appreciate the help and a chance for a short break," Tseng answered tiredly.

Vincent nodded and asked, "What have you set up so far?" When Tseng finished explaining, the older man gave a nod and said, "In that case, we can largely stick with what you've already set up. I'd suggest adding a group to patrol the area for monsters—we could possibly appropriate a few from the Infantry you allocated to both Anki and Cissnei for that. The rest seem to all be very much needed where they are. I'll work on that while you take a fifteen minute break."

Tseng nodded a little numbly, and Vincent faced his group of Turks to say, "Lenno, you'll be in charge of the defensive group so stay here, but the rest of you should head out to join the searchers looking for both living and dead. Remember not to get yourselves under the Mako fountain—Reeve should be sending in something to shut that down within the hour, but it's by no means going to be safe in that area, even after it's not raining Mako anymore."

As Vincent took command, Tseng managed to make his way inside and to Cissnei for some water, warning her that some of her Infantry would be allocated to defense soon. She agreed, and shoved a granola bar into his hand along with the bottle of water he'd asked for, so he obediently ate and drank, sitting for several minutes before returning to Vincent. They then agreed to split the load by each taking primary command of the damaged zone in each Sector, Vincent in 6 and Tseng in 5.


	35. 34-Catch Twenty-two

Catch Twenty-two

Angeal was tired, but he knew their work was nothing like over, and wouldn't be for some time. For him, it was worse, because the Second who had been assigned to work with Second Fair had finally dragged the injured sixteen-year-old back to him to take care of due to his sheer recklessness in his rescue attempts. The other Second had described it a lot like attempted suicide, whether deliberate or subconscious. Angeal had asked the man if he knew why Zack might be acting like that, and he'd replied that Luxiere had been one of Zack's closer friends. It was likely that was the cause of the younger man's behavior, the Commander had to admit.

The result was him having to try to simultaneously give orders, find solutions to rescue problems, find and rescue people himself, _and_ try to keep Fair from getting himself killed. Even though he could grasp the pain of the loss, however, he couldn't grasp wanting, or trying, to end his own life because of it, especially not when the one who had died made it very clear he wanted Zack to live. By then, hours after it had happened, Zack was no less reckless, and honestly, enough was enough. He _really_ didn't want the sixteen-year-old to join the dead—and the pyreflies—already floating around.

That was made more true when he heard rumbling off to the side and turned to look—to see Zack standing in the path of a collapsing building wall, just staring absently into the distance. He had to jump quickly to the younger man's side and drag him out of the way of the wall, but then turned to face him—and punched him across the jaw. After a pause, Zack looked up at him, expression stunned, as one of his hands lifted to his sore jaw.

"...Did you just hit me, Commander?" Zack asked, looking fully engaged in his surroundings for the first time since the collapse and Luxiere's death.

"I did," he agreed blandly.

"...Why?"

"Because you were just standing under a collapsing wall."

"...I was...?" Zack asked, looking utterly confused. In reply, Angeal pointed at the remains of the wall scattered across the ground not far away. "...Oh."

"Look, Zack..." Angeal began, then sighed as he collected his thoughts. Finally, he went on, "I've lost a lot of good men, and a lot of good friends. In our line of work, people die, and they die frequently. There's nothing any of us can do about that except go on living, remembering them as we do. Losing a friend hurts, and if it ever didn't, I would be truly worried about your sanity, but right now, you're letting that loss literally drag you down, to the point where I could justify having you put on suicide watch. And Zack, just like it hurts that Luxiere is dead, it would hurt _many_ others if _you_ died. Many of the people who are already hurting would then have to mourn _you_, too. Is that what you want—to take _two_ of their friends from them, instead of just one?"

"But he died because I was too weak—" Zack began in a pained tone.

"He died because your grip was slipping on your own blood, and rather than have you _both_ fall, he relieved you of his extra weight. That decision was entirely his, whether he should have done it or not, and you hold no blame for that. In fact, what it says is a great deal about _how much he cared_ about you. Don't throw that away or cheapen it by trying to make it about _you_—it's not," the older SOLDIER told the younger one plainly and with feeling, hoping to get through to him.

For a few long minutes, Zack just stared at him, then asked, "Should you really be taking so long with me when there are still people we need to find and save?"

"It's pretty hard to find and save people with the dubious help of someone who is effectively trying to get himself killed. If you're not able, mentally, to keep yourself in one piece, I need to know that so I can send you back to the base to help out there, Zack. But, if you think you're prepared now to set aside your own pain until we've finished rescuing as many as we can, we can get back to work, hopefully with better coordination," Angeal replied steadily, reaching out to grip the younger SOLDIER's shoulder. "What I want from you is honesty about whether you can do this or not."

Again, the black haired sixteen-year-old paused for over a minute before closing his eyes, drawing in a deep breath, and opening his eyes again as he released it. "I want to try one more time. If I still can't focus after half an hour, I'll go back to the base and help out there however they need."

Nodding, Angeal turned to look for the next area they had to search through for possible survivors—only to freeze as four black cats with white chests, red capes, and golden crowns trotted past the two of them, walking upright. They were heading for the Mako-irradiated zone, directly towards the damaged Reactor pillar spewing out the fountain of Mako, and obviously seemed to be in a kind of coordination.

"...Uh...What was that?" Zack asked in shock, watching as the four cats entered the area of the sickly green fountain and immediately got soaked.

"...I hope they're there to stop the Mako fountain," Angeal replied. "Those are Cait Siths, some creations of Reeve Tuesti's which are basically robots with their own AI's. I thought he only had one, but unless he'd already had _at least_ four made, he couldn't have made another three just since the bomb went off..."

"And because they're machines, the Mako doesn't affect them? Tuesti is the head of Urban Development, right?" the younger black haired man asked.

"Yes, and yes," Angeal agreed, then sighed faintly. "Well, as much as that will help, we still won't be able to go into that area, so we'd better keep working where we _can_. Come on." He headed to their next area, and Zack followed him.

"So...Urban Development deals with the Reactors?"

"Urban Development _made_ them."

"Oh. Then, if those are his creations too, they should be able to stop the fountain?"

"That's what I'm hoping they're here for."

The two kept working after that, and thankfully, Zack was able to keep focused enough to do what needed doing, so he was allowed to stay with Angeal.

FoWD

Hours passed in search and rescue mode, the only bit of relief coming with the halting of the Mako fountain. After a fairly short time handling Sector 5, Tseng ended up organizing another refuge there to take severely damaged people to. Those who had non-fatal injuries could afford to take time to be moved to the main base in Sector 6, which was thankfully the majority of the living they were finding. Not all of them were so lucky as to have only minor injuries, though, so Vincent helped him arrange for three Hounds, some skilled doctors, and some supplies to be shuttled over to the other area he'd found which would suffice in 5.

It was while he was scanning the horizon near nightfall for a SOLDIER returning with a critically injured woman that he had to blink and stare as Doriss struggled her way towards him. She had the body of a SOLDIER draped over her shoulder and a child of about three or four attached to her leg opposite, but what really caught his attention was the damage to her clothing he could see, even from that distance. Turning away from where he'd been watching, he made his way to her, noting the severity of her injuries—there were cuts all over her body, quite a bit of blood, some dry and some not, dirt and rust stains, and tearing all over her skin and clothes.

At seeing him approaching, she eased the SOLIDER to the ground. He was about to activate his Full Cure when she told him in a pained voice, "Don't waste your energy—I can't take any more magical healing." The body was obviously damaged, and bits of it were beginning to revert to pyreflies—the SOLDIER was obviously dead already. That was something else which had been accompanying them since they'd started working—bits of energy from the pyreflies from the deaths floating around, scattered. They weren't in the area of the Mako fountain—likely being brought down by said Mako—but outside it, they floated like normal, though the numbers had dropped substantially.

"So...what happened?" he asked warily as he paused about two feet from her.

"This little girl was stuck in something that I guess had sort of been a half-basement in one of the old, pre-Midgar houses left over here. When I tried to get her out, half the house tried to fall on us, and Kunzel threw himself in the way. I still can't believe he held up a fucking _house_ on his back until we could get out through one of the small holes." She paused to draw in a shaky breath. "He died while giving us that time, and it was only because a beam on one side broke when he died and fell to the ground that the whole thing fell off him enough that I could retrieve his body. Still, it took both of us to keep the girl safe, and the damage to me wasn't pretty. That's why I used up all my healing, otherwise I couldn't even have gotten back here with _her_, let alone Kunzel."

He knew she was trying to be impersonal and unemotional because it hurt—it hurt him, too. Even though Kunzel had been a Hound by being in Genesis' unit, he had never really paid attention to those lines and had friends on both sides—Doriss and Tseng were only two of those. He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed hard, then said, "I'll at least lay out his body until it dissolves the rest of the way into pyreflies. You need to go inside and wrap the worst of those injuries or you'll bleed out before you get to the base in Sector 6. Once you've dropped the girl off there, go back to Headquarters and see the doctors there."

She nodded and headed inside, the girl still clinging to her leg. She wasn't the first Turk he'd sent back for care—she wasn't the first Vincent had sent back, either—but she was the worst injured he'd seen so far. Well, if he excluded the fact that Kunzel was dead. Pulling out his PHS, he sent a call to Vincent to let him know about Doriss, then turned his attention back to the SOLDIER finally returning and to laying Kunzel out properly, a task the SOLDIER helped with once he'd dropped the woman off for the doctors. Doriss left soon after with the child, pausing only long enough to say a final farewell and thanks to Kunzel.

FoWD

When the Turks and Auryn had left the maintenance paths in the train station and gotten back onto the streets, the pervading sense of shock and horror across the city had been palpable. Most people had come to a halt to stare in the direction of the visible 'Mako fountain' spewing from where the Sector 5 Reactor should have been, and they'd had to make their way around more obstacles than they should have needed to. Everyone chose to stop and eat before doing anything else, making sure Auryn also got food into him, then the ones with minor injuries stopped to get them tended before everyone went to change.

Once they were fit to go back to work, Vincent led the way to Lazard's office. Lady Shinra and Rufus were there with him as he worked to allocate people to various areas of the city, both topside and down below. The bulk were being sent below, and there were already some people being brought to the Shinra building for medical care by the time Kariya, Rufus, Auryn, and Lady Shinra left Lazard's office. Auryn was walking—unsteadily—by then, his tears finally having stopped. One thing about his bond to the Lifestream was literally feeling people die, and while a few, or even a few dozen, wasn't too major to manage, when hundreds or thousands died all at once, it was physically painful, more even than having his auto-mail ports put in.

Auryn was left to rest and sleep for most of the time they were in Lady Shinra's office, using the couch against one wall of the antechamber and occasionally finding something to read when he needed to distract himself for a while. That day, that night, a good part of the following day...It was mostly a blur to him. A few times, Lady Shinra, Rufus, and/or Kariya joined him to rest, themselves, and on more than one occasion, he heard an argument in the woman's office, normally between her and the President or her and Heidegger. Even though he called it 'resting', it wasn't restful, and his exhaustion showed, worrying Kariya, Rufus, and Lady Shinra.

Returning to Kariya's quarters and the hidden apartment would be a relief.

FoWD

For the rest of the day, through the night, and well into the next day, all of Shinra's combat personnel were working hard in long shifts with only short breaks to eat and about six-hour long rest breaks for sleep once during that time. The Cait Sith units had been very helpful in several ways once the Mako fountain was shut down, and many of the Weapons Department's non-piloted war machine prototypes had been able to be modified for search and rescue purposes. It was one of the few times when both Reeve and Scarlet were in agreement about something, and their ability to engineer and program as a team frightened several people.

About eighty percent of the people in the blast zone, above and below, had died by the time morning rolled around, nearly half of those from extreme Mako poisoning. The other half had died in the explosion or collapse itself. For the survivors, about a quarter of the land space in both Sectors around the destroyed Reactor was now uninhabitable until further notice, so they had to find new homes. All of the city hospitals were full, including the one in the Shinra building, and some of that space was taken up with civilian care. Shinra had also inherited several dozen orphans who had to be housed and educated, causing a fair number of them to be assigned to rooms on the SOLDIER and Turk floors until other places could be found for them.

Tseng sighed tiredly as he looked down at his PHS fairly early in the morning on the second day of their search and rescue operations, the incoming call showing Verdot's number. He answered it with, "What are you calling about, Sir?"

"I've heard from Gast and Ifalna about what happened in Midgar," the man replied. "As much as my meeting them here could have later—repercussions—I have to commend your foresight in telling them to leave the city. Is there anything I can do there? What's your situation looking like?"

"I honestly can't think of anything you could do here which isn't already being done, regardless of when you get back. We're trying to recover people who weren't under the Mako fountain which resulted from the Reactor's destruction, but it's pretty slow going. The area of the fountain is so heavily contaminated even the cockroaches can't live there, so it's pretty much a lost cause. We can only be thankful the central Sector support pillars held, so we didn't lose the whole of Sectors Five and Six, but the Hounds have been with the first responders to the search and rescue efforts, and I had to send a few back to Headquarters to recover from Mako poisoning," Tseng replied, still feeling tired. "I don't have long to talk, because I'm still working on—well, what will hopefully be my last shift here."

"I won't keep you long, then. If you're sure about not needing me back right away, I need another two days—the paperwork I need to finish with won't get here until tomorrow, and I should be back in Midgar the day after. But Tseng, tell me honestly...Do you really feel all right keeping command for another couple days?"

Tone biting, the younger Wutain replied, "It's a little late to be asking me that _now_. If I had needed you back, it would have been _yesterday_, when all Hades broke loose on the city, and frankly, I'm inclined to keep command until the clean-up is over so no one has to deal with a new commander part-way through."

After a momentary pause, Verdot gave a small chuckle. "Sometimes, you really do remind me of a fierce tiger ready to go for the kill. If that's how you want it, then I'll keep to my schedule and will be back the day after tomorrow. It sounds like you've been doing well, given the circumstances, so—give me the full details when I get back, all right?"

"I'll do that," Tseng agreed.

"Then, take care. Don't be reckless—that's the _last_ thing the Hounds will need from you right now." Before Tseng could answer, the call ended.

With another sigh, he returned his PHS to his pocket and went back to work. It was about an hour later when Anki found him, making him look up at her in puzzlement for a moment before turning back to his efforts to dig though the remains of a building at the edge of the Mako-irradiated zone.

She then asked bluntly, "You won't stop at least until you finish this building, will you?"

"We're _all_ still supposed to be working," Tseng replied dryly.

"Tseng, we've been here almost since the bomb went off, and Lady Shinra very pointedly said it's time for _all_ of us to rest. Since the Hounds count as the first shift, we're the ones to go back to Headquarters first," Anki pointed out, moving forward to help him.

"Who will keep searching if _we_ don't?" the Wutain asked in annoyance.

"Turks, SOLDIERs, and Infantry she called in from other bases, like Junon," Anki replied, making him pause to stare up at her. "The first shift has already arrived to take over, hence the reason I was sent to find you. We'll finish here, then head back. She'll send us—or you, or Verdot more likely—a notice once she's scheduled our next shift."

"Verdot won't be back for two more days," Tseng sighed. "I should let her know his trip was extended, apparently due to having to wait for some paperwork to arrive."

"Then let her know so we can finish this up," the older Turk agreed in an almost dry tone, still working.

The younger Turk quickly sent the message to Lady Shinra, then returned to work. They found one more survivor in the building, so returned him to the warehouse in Sector 6, then headed to the Shinra building. Knowing he had to organize some things in the office, Tseng went there first, planning to do what should have been about half an hour to an hour of paperwork, then crash for the rest of the day unless he was needed.

Instead, when he got there and stepped into Verdot's office, he found Donnel—a very ill-looking Donnel—sitting curled up in one of the chairs, shaking. "Donnel? What happened?" he asked in alarm, causing obviously disoriented eyes to turn to him. He knew that look—someone had heavily manipulated his memory, and fairly recently. Quickly, he pulled the chair beside Donnel's over to be right against the other man's, sat, and offered his arm.

The effect was immediate as Donnel seized his arm like it was a life-saver and leaned over to rest his head on the Wutain's shoulder, trying to force himself to breathe deeply and evenly. For his part, knowing Donnel needed the physical presence—and touch—of someone he trusted to re-orient himself after a memory modification, Tseng just let him put his arm wherever he wanted it and let him clutch it tightly. Over some time, likely over half an hour, the older man gradually stopped shaking and his grip on the offered arm loosened, letting Tseng shift it a bit for comfort.

"I was sent back to the hospital after an injury during a rescue," Donnel said quietly, leaving his head on Tseng's shoulder. With his free hand, the younger Turk reached over to cover one of Donnel's hands still holding his arm. "...No one had any time to change my memory because of the bomb...I woke up in the hospital a—I think it's a couple hours ago—and had to throw up over the side of the bed. I knew the feeling. My memory had been manipulated, but I have no idea by who or what they did or didn't do. Vincent and Verdot are both completely out, and there are only two people besides them who can manipulate it—Lady Shinra and President Shinra."

A sinking feeling came over Tseng as he breathed, "It can't be Lady Shinra—she's been coordinating the whole rescue effort from her office, with Rufus, Kariya, and Auryn. That leaves..."

Donnel nodded against his shoulder. "It was major. I can't remember it. I don't know what to do. This is the first time the President has come right to me without warning, and while I had something actually dangerous for him to know."

"About Auryn," Tseng sighed.

"That he's actually just like Aeris," the older man agreed tiredly. "Please...what do I do now?"

He sounded so torn, and Tseng truly wished he could help him, but the reality was—_he_ didn't know what to do, either. After a pause, he sighed and said, "I think the first person I want to talk with is Vincent, because he's the one most likely to have any possible back-up plans. I also think Verdot should have a heads-up, since he's most likely going to have to react to the fallout. All right?" When Donnel nodded against his shoulder again, he pulled out his PHS to call Vincent.

"What's the matter? Aren't you off your shift now?" Vincent asked in surprise when he answered his phone.

"Yes, but I had been planning to do some paperwork before resting. Instead, Donnel was waiting here for me, so—" Tseng replied.

"He should be in the hospital, recovering!" Vincent replied sharply, and just loudly enough for Donnel to hear him, prompting a faint smile from the red-blond Turk.

"I'm getting to that," the Wutain told him in annoyance, then repeated what Donnel had told him.

There was a long silence before Vincent sighed. "Tseng, what do you suggest we do? Try to guess what the President asked for and start locking up potential targets in literal prisons?" Tseng stiffened, flashing back to what had happened with Auryn and Kariya's capture just the day before. That all felt like it had been weeks ago, honestly, but a quick check of his memory affirmed it was indeed only yesterday. Vincent went on speaking, "Try to guess if he wanted blueprints or habits to arrange for our deaths? There are a million things he could have asked for, or he could have asked for them all. We can't do anything but react to whatever he decides to act on, and while Auryn will likely be one of his targets, that doesn't justify what we'd have to do to try to keep him safe from the President now."

"...So we just do nothing?" Tseng sighed.

"The only thing we can do, assuming Ansha isn't already doing it, is to put in some observation equipment at his entry doors to see if, or who, is using them. I'll talk with Ansha and Kariya about that once I'm off my shift. Otherwise...You said you planned to warn Verdot?"

"That's right," Tseng agreed, feeling a little better.

"Then please let him know. He's still going to have to go along with the President, but at least that way, he may have some sort of work-around ready. No promises, but it's a chance, and I know he's done it before," Vincent told him. "And make sure you and Donnel both get the rest you need, Donnel especially after that."

"All right. I will, and thank you for your help," the Wutain agreed. They quickly ended the call, and he asked the man still leaning his head on his opposite shoulder, "How much did you hear?"

"Not too much. There's a plan?" he asked hopefully.

"Just extra monitoring, but it should help. He'll take care of that, but now I need to call Verdot." When Donnel nodded, Tseng called the man back.

"Has something happened for you to call me again so soon?" Verdot asked in wary surprise by way of greeting. With a faint sigh, the younger Turk repeated Donnel's experience to him, and after a short silence, the older man sighed as well. "So, I can safely say the President will be wanting to speak with me soon after I get back. But Tseng, if what you just shared with me is true, I _won't_ have a way around those orders. We're very neatly in a catch twenty-two now, and we'll all just have to see how things will play out. Your best bet is to take care of Donnel for now—paperwork can wait."

Releasing a deep breath, the younger Turk agreed, "I will. Thanks."

"Thank you for the warning. I wouldn't have been happy to walk into that blindly. Get some rest, and don't worry about what happens next—you'll have no part in it."

With those words, they ended the call and Tseng helped Donnel up to help the man back to his apartment, where they both stayed for the rest of the day.


	36. 35-Outside Midgar

Outside Midgar

Auryn was happy to be back in the familiar apartment, curled up in bed or on the couch with a book. Doriss had been injured while trying to rescue a child, he'd been told, so she would be in the hospital for a few days while her body recovered. In the meantime, Kariya and Ansha helped him exercise his wings—now that they were back in his apartment and not the antechamber to Lady Shinra's office, they could actually do things like that without risk of being caught. It was something which helped ground him, oddly enough, after all the death and destruction in Midgar, and he began to wonder if the city was just fated to suffer some sort of devastation. Of course, when they weren't exercising his wings, he was reading, as usual.

Three days passed that way, but as the evening of the third day set in, while he was reading on the couch, he heard a sound at his balcony doors and looked up—only to stiffen and freeze as Balto and an older woman he'd never seen before stepped inside. His eyes widened in fear, realizing there was really only one reason they would be there, and that was to effectively kidnap him. Some part of him realized Balto seemed regretful, but the woman with him was largely just blank, her gaze intense as she eyed him. It was hard to stop flashbacks of the many times the Turks had tortured him, and he was now pretty much guaranteed another round...

"Auryn, I'd really rather not have to take you by force. Will you please come with us quietly?" Balto asked in a soft, soothing tone. "If it helps, I don't think anyone wants to hurt you, but...our orders are to take you back to our office."

The words made him flinch as he began shaking. He couldn't have answered if he'd _wanted_ to—the Turks' office wasn't a place of safety and comfort to him anymore, and to be taken there was something he couldn't do. Not willingly. And that it was Balto made the reaction stronger; likely the only one who would be able to cause a stronger reaction would be Tseng. He was literally unable to move, even realizing what was happening, and he couldn't make a sound, either. Too many memories, too many old habits...But he didn't want to!

"He's having a panic attack," the woman observed. "We can't wait long, so we're going to have to just take him along."

"That's going to make things worse," Balto sighed faintly. He paused, then apparently thought of something and gave a commanding order, "Calm down right now, Auryn!"

Something in the command caused the blond's heart to slow and his body to start relaxing—not completely, but enough that he no longer qualified as a flesh-and-blood statue. Searching his memory for why that would be the case didn't work until his breathing had slowed and oxygen began reaching his brain again. Then, he recalled that Balto had admitted he was a Dom (not so simply, but still admitted it), and any Dom worth their salt knew how to be commanding, not with cruelty, but with assurance. From the couple past experiences he'd had in the Lifestyle, he supposed some part of him had to respond to the command in the way he'd used it. It didn't escape his attention how the unknown Lady Turk's brow rose at his response to the order.

Releasing a breath, Balto stepped over to him and offered his hand. "We need you to come with us. Take my hand and let's go."

His tone was still that commanding one which demanded and expected obedience, and Auryn instinctively began to lift his hand—but then stopped, torn as he remembered what normally happened when he ended up in the Turks' office. One part of him wanted to obey, and the other part resisted because he couldn't forget the pain and suffering. That Balto was refusing to just drag him out was causing its own chaos in his mind, as the man wasn't following his typical behaviors from any dimension but the first. He was becoming exhausted with the emotional and mental tug-of-war the situation was causing him.

"Take my hand and let's go," Balto ordered again. As the blond watched in something like dazed bemusement, his hand started lifting again towards his larger, out-stretched one.

"Not a chance!" a new, furious voice snarled, and both Balto and the woman Turk were tossed to the ground near the far wall, bodies aching and movements extremely slow.

Where they had been standing, Auryn could see Doriss in her uniform, but he had little more time to think about it as she suddenly caught him up in a hug, snapped some sort of device around his waist, and turned back to the balcony door. She was carrying him with her, so he instinctively wrapped his legs around her waist and his arms around her neck...And damn, didn't he just feel strange being carried like he was a small child? He caught a glimpse of a shocked Kariya at the bedroom door as Doriss—jumped over the side of the balcony.

His grip on her instinctively tightened until he realized her descent was a controlled drop with the use of some sort of grappling hook system attached to her holsters. It didn't take him long to also realize she needed use of her arms to keep control of the movement, and weight-wise, she would be more balanced having the weight on her front than her back. They first descended quickly, then began moving horizontally, and opening his eyes for a few moments showed him a dizzying view of the city as it passed by quickly. How could she _do_ that?

What kept his sanity was the fact that he knew her so well—better than almost everyone in this dimension besides Tseng and Kariya. She was obviously not taking him to the Turks' office, or anywhere in the Shinra building, which also helped him keep from descending into a panic attack. The Lifestream had seemed more worried about Balto and the other woman than it did about her taking off with him, as well, which left him with an oddly bemused feeling for the second time that night.

Then he remembered, wasn't Doriss supposed to be in the hospital?

Speaking of descending, though, Doriss' direction had changed to downward again, so he tried opening his eyes—and caught a glimpse of one of the Reactor support pillars. From his position, he couldn't see which one, but it literally meant she was taking him out of the city.

Really?

After a few minutes, Doriss stopped moving, and it was only then when Auryn realized she was panting slightly and trembling. He pulled back enough to see her face, seeing how her lips were pressed into a fine line. The thing around his waist released and she nudged him down, so he dropped his feet to the ground and let go of her. In her hand was a strap which he gathered was a kind of harness for situations like his, when she needed to carry people that way. She rolled it up and put it in her pocket, then took his elbow and pulled him with her out into the Wastes.

Turning to look back at Midgar, Auryn realized he was seeing it from just past the Sector 4 Reactor, where the city wall wasn't complete, and from there, he could also see the damage to the city from the plasma bomb. It didn't look pretty, at all, and his only assurance that Nina and Aeris were okay was the fact that he hadn't felt them return to the Lifestream. Shaking his head slightly, he looked forward again, letting Doriss lead them away from the city in the general direction of Kalm. Or, more accurately, she was leading them on a path which would take them south of Kalm if they stayed on it.

Finally, as they walked, he asked tentatively, "Doriss, what's...I mean, back there...?"

She sighed with a faint, chuckling huff and told him, "I know Balto well enough to know he's _very_ good at getting people to obey him, and I recognized the tone he was using on you as that way. It _doesn't_ qualify as willing, it's more of a very subtle, natural Manipulate ability. That means Verdot sent them to take you back to him, and to the President by extension. If you're wondering how I knew, I took a page out of Ansha's book and attached an alarm system to your balcony door so I'd know if it opened and from which side. That it opened from the outside sent warning bells off in my mind, so I ditched my assignment and ran to see who had gotten in."

"...So evading a manhunt is better?" he asked quietly.

"It won't be one," she shrugged. "Or, well, it may be on the Hounds' side, but not the Guards. Even Verdot might just call it quits and wait for us to go back."

"Uh..." Auryn blinked, not able to grasp why her hijacking him from his apartment _wouldn't_ turn into a manhunt.

Doriss actually chuckled at his expression and elaborated, "They know I tend to hightail it if something makes me feel threatened in my own home, which often results in me taking someone or something of importance with me. This makes...six times now. They call it varying terms, but it amounts to the same thing—if they want my cooperation, they can't freak me out like that. It goes back to the same incident I told you about when I was still a Trainee."

"How does that equate no manhunt?"

"Vincent never _tried_ to 'hunt' me when I pulled a runner, though I have no idea why. Verdot would get in touch with me, work out the cause, and wait for me to return. At least, most of the time, that's what he does. I don't know if he'll do it this time or not—after all, I definitely took someone of value with me, and I hurt two of my fellow Hounds to do it."

After a long silence, Auryn admitted, "I was compelled to obey him, even through my fear, right through what should have been full-blown panic. His Dom voice and vibe is definitely strong, way stronger than I ever thought possible. Describing it as a natural Manipulate ability is really accurate."

The woman abruptly halted and spun to face him staring in dawning realization as he gave her a puzzled look. "You're a Hades-forsaken sub!" she breathed. "No wonder. That answers a whole lot more than it doesn't, and the effect he'd be able to have on you would be so much stronger because you're inclined to submission anyway!"

"Hell no," Auryn snorted wryly. "A little, I guess," he amended then. "When I'm in the mood for it, I qualify more as a Switch, but if I was myself, I lean more towards the Dom side. I just...sometimes really, really need a break from the burdens I carry, and right now, I'm so messed up I sort of qualify as a sub, anyway, so..."

For a few more moments, she stared at him, then sighed and nodded as she turned and kept moving, pulling him with her. "Does that mean you follow the Lifestyle, too?"

"Mostly, no," the blond told her. "To kinda put this in perspective a bit, I've had about three hundred years' worth of time in those other time lines, and only about ten of those where I even followed it. At the times I ended up in it, what it did was help put at least some of the torture I'd suffered into perspective and put it in a different light. But it also showed me there was more than one viable way a person could live their life in general, and that it doesn't have to be a bad thing to be—overpowered by someone. For the most part, though, I prefer a more normal, and more equal, relationship if I'm going to have one."

"Why do you say you lean more to the Dom side, then?" the older woman asked, and he could just hear the puzzled frown in her voice.

The question made him sigh. "My parents taught me very young to 'take care of my younger brother'. My dad abandoned us when I was, like, four, and my my mom died when I was seven. Since my dad didn't bother to show up again until not long before the first scenario, that meant I had to raise my younger brother from the time I was seven to the time I was sixteen. I was responsible for him, had to make sure he was okay, had to make the decisions and deal with the repercussions if something went wrong. It effectively put me in the position of being in a non-sexual Dom/sub relationship with my brother, because he also pretty much couldn't function without my direction. I never even knew something might be wrong with that dynamic until I ended up in the Lifestyle the first time."

"_Was_ something wrong?" she asked in faint amusement.

"Well, we weren't following any terms from the Lifestyle, and there were a lot of things we did equally, but he was obviously the follower to my leader, and he very, very rarely challenged me, even if he knew, or at least felt, like I was about to do something very, very stupid. But when I look back on my relationship with him now, even if it was over-all a good one, it was also borderline obsessive, both ways. Given how we were brothers, not lovers, it was likely our paths would diverge, and I have to wonder how well a follower does with no one to follow when they have no experience in doing for themselves."

"I suppose that's a fair point."

They fell silent for some time after that, until awhile after they'd crossed into the green plains south of Kalm. It was still dark out when they came to a small, abandoned farmhouse and Doriss opened the door for them to get inside and rest. There was a main room, a bedroom, a cellar, and a bathroom, and while the furniture was sparse, it included a couch, two chairs, a bed, and a kitchen table and chairs. Some toiletries were available in the bathroom, and there were dishes in the kitchen part of the main room, as well as food. Though, the food was of the travel variety which wouldn't go bad.

As they were settling, Auryn in the bedroom, Doriss said, "We're going to be traveling by night so it's a lot harder for them to find us. It's highly likely they'll at least try the choppers for a few days, which means we need to avoid people to get to where we're going. I'd like some of your input on where we want to go, hopefully before we reach the other side of the mountains." When he nodded, she returned to the living room couch to rest.

It didn't take long for curiosity about the farmhouse to make him call, "Hey, Doriss?"

"Yeah?" she replied, not getting up.

"What's with this house, anyway?"

"It used to belong to my uncle. Since it's mine now, it makes a fantastic first stop when I bolt."

"...The Turks don't know?"

"That happened before I joined them, and the paperwork surrounding it was destroyed in a fire about...hm, three weeks before they hired me, I guess. There were no records of it for them to find by the time they got around to looking. Now, go to sleep, Auryn."

Closing his eyes, the blond sixteen-year-old _tried_ to sleep, but it took a shockingly long time for him to finally drift into darkness. As it so happened, he was jolted awake by a knock on the door, which apparently also woke Doriss and caused her to start muttering profanities.

After a second knock on the door, that one sounding different from the first, the woman got up to answer it, asking warily, "Who are you and what brought you here?"

A very familiar voice replied cheerfully, "Oh, Minerva told us we could find Auryn here. And Alexander seems to agree with her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Doriss snapped, even as Auryn got up and went to the bedroom door, where he could see Aeris, Nina, and Alexander at the door.

"Aeris, you should know better than to talk to a Turk like that," he said with a sigh.

Both hers and Nina's eyes went to him, and Nina happily squealed, "Little Big Brother!" She was through the door, past Doriss' legs, and jumping to hug Auryn around the waist before anyone could blink.

"How are you, Nina?" he asked with a soft smile down at her.

"Great! My moms and dad said we could come with you, and we should probably anyway, since a man called...um..." Nina began, obviously wracking her brain for a name she likely only heard once.

"Verdot," Aeris filled in dryly, still just outside the door.

"Yeah, Verdot! So, because he saw us in the calm town, they said we should go somewhere else for awhile so he can say he doesn't know where we are!" Nina finished eagerly.

The words made Doriss sigh and Auryn blink. The older woman asked, "Can I hazard a guess and say these are the 'honorary sisters' of yours Tseng took you to visit?"

"Yes," he agreed. The older blond woman moved out of the doorway and motioned Aeris inside, which resulted in her joining Nina and Auryn, even as Alexander padded along after her, his tail wagging happily.

"I hope there were no helicopters or planes in your view while you made your way here," Doriss told them as she closed the door.

The older of the two brunettes faced her and replied, "No, no one saw us. Minerva told us to go just when we did so we wouldn't be seen."

"Who's Minerva?" the older woman asked, frowning apprehensively.

"The planet's sentience, the singular awareness directing things like the Lifestream," Auryn explained. "I forgot to ask earlier, but weren't you in the hospital?"

With a snort, Doriss answered him, "I was released in the morning yesterday. I took a trip into the city, then planned to do my usual work shift and visit you sometime today, but...That went south very fast. So if Minerva is the 'Lifestream', that means only Ancients, like these two I presume, can hear—it? Her?"

"Her," Aeris agreed cheerfully. "And we're the only ones who can actually communicate with her besides Summons and a few other special beings. Other people sometimes hear something from her or the multitudes of souls making up the Lifestream, though."

"Does that mean you can be tracked or not?" Doriss asked bluntly.

"We can't, not through the Lifestream or Minerva, other than by another Ancient, and the only other one is my mother, who won't help anyone find us," Aeris replied.

"I see," the blond woman sighed faintly. "Have you decided yet where you want to go, Auryn?"

After a pause, he commented, "South of Junon is an island with a sealed Temple on it. I want to go there."

"Why?" Doriss blinked in surprise. Aeris and Nina looked puzzled, too.

"Because the Temple is an extremely dangerous, world-destroying Materia called Black, which I want to reduce to pyreflies if I have the chance," he answered bluntly. Aeris' eyes widened at the words. "I have a Summon friend who is very, very good at the Temple's puzzle by now, and who doesn't mind being sent into a three-day-long recovery if it means getting Black removed from the world equation—that's one less planetary kill-switch." His gaze then turned to Aeris as he said, "And you have White, another planetary kill-switch. I'd like to destroy it, too, please."

"But—" Aeris began in alarm, then froze for a moment in shock. After a moment, she met his gaze and said, "She asks you to destroy them every time, doesn't she? Except the one you told me about?"

"Most times," Auryn agreed. "If you want, you can come into the Temple with me at first, but we can't stay in it once the Summon starts working, otherwise we would be crushed by its transformation back into Materia form."

"You don't have any Materia on you," the older blond woman pointed out. "What Summon will help you?"

Knowing he no longer suffered a debilitating effect from touching Materia directly (it seemed to be a side-effect of having natural Mako in place of blood, like an equalizing agent), he held his hand forward and focused on the arrays letting him move and manipulate Materia. The arrays he used to pull the Carbuncle Summon Materia from his collection to his hand lit up around his wrist, and the glowing orb formed in his hand, making all three of the others blink in surprise. Once the bright red Materia had formed fully, the glowing array lines vanished and he was able to toss the Materia to Doriss so she could assess it. Other than instinctively moving to catch it, neither she nor the other two girls looked away from him.

"That...felt like something pulled on me!" Nina suddenly announced, pouting.

The words produced giggles from Aeris as Doriss smiled faintly and turned her attention to the Materia. Then she noticed Alexander eagerly watching the red orb in her hand, crouched a bit like he was ready to run. "Uh, Aeris, your—pet? Well, he seems to be focused on the Materia," Doriss commented dryly.

"Oh, Alexander's mine!" Nina chirped. "And he really likes his red ball! That Ma-ter-ia makes him think of it, so he thinks you want to play fetch! Especially 'cause Little Big Brother threw it _to_ you so _you_ could catch it!"

The words made the woman sigh, but a glance at Auryn's amused expression kept her from feeling too irritated. Either way, once she finished with Carbuncle, she handed it back to Auryn, rather than throwing it, just to discourage Alexander a bit.

Then she blinked in shock as Aeris said, "So, I think you have something to show us, Auryn? Minerva said she was able to help make you into a proper shapeshifter while the Doctors were trying to fix your mixed genetics?"

With a sigh, Auryn asked tiredly, "Why am I not surprised she told you about that?"

"I wanna see a furry Little Big Brother!" Nina immediately cheered. "Please?"

As soon as she looked at him with those big, pleading eyes, Auryn knew he couldn't refuse, so he sighed faintly and agreed, "Okay, but you can't tell anyone else who doesn't know."

"I promise!" Nina agreed eagerly as Doriss cocked a brow at how easily the little girl had gotten his agreement.

It only took Auryn a few moments that time to make the switch to his other form, the cat-like one with bird wings and a feathered tail tip. Nina cheered, Aeris 'awwed', and Alexander—barked and promptly bowled Auryn over to start licking all over his body as the Bandersnatch effectively rolled him into a ball against his belly. As Alexander worked, Auryn protested several times, trying to get the large monster off him, but it was to no avail, and about two minutes later, Alexander was wrapped tightly around a pouting Auryn, whose wings were the only things the Bandersnatch had left free.

"Kitty-ball!" Nina giggled and cheered, jumping on the two to burrow between Auryn and Alexander. Both she and Alexander promptly went to sleep, leaving Auryn to just sigh and try to relax.

Then, his eyes turned to Aeris and Doriss as he commented, "You know, you could help me get out of this—this—whatever it is." He was clearly annoyed as he said it.

Rather than doing as he asked, both previously surprised women burst into laughter instead, both of them laughing so hard they cried. In the process, Doriss managed to hold up her PHS and snap a photo of the scene, barely able to hold it steady long enough to manage the one shot.

Once she'd put her PHS away and managed to get her laughter under control—Aeris was still giggling quite exuberantly—Doriss told him with a smirk, "I'd rather not disturb your little sister, who happens to be sleeping quite happily there. And at least this will make you rest."

"Yes, yes!" Aeris gasped out, still giggling. "So true! Just—stay like that awhile, Auryn!" the fifteen-year-old agreed, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Oh, you three are _soooooo cute_ like that! Make sure you give me a copy of that photo, okay, Lady Turk?"

"Hey!" Auryn yelped.

"It's Doriss, and will do," the older woman agreed with a smile.

Auryn sighed and gave up, leaning his head on Alexander's neck to at least _try_ to sleep.


	37. 36-Twists of Fate

Twists of...Fate?

As it turned out, making their way to the island where the Temple of the Ancients was happened to be rather simple, and the exploration of the 'building' was also fairly easy. Oddly enough, Aeris, Doriss, and Alexander did most of the fighting—or healing, in Aeris' case—while Nina and Auryn worked on solving the various puzzles of the Temple. Once they had found everything they wanted to in it, Auryn left Carbuncle to work on the last puzzle, thanking the Summon profusely for agreeing, and promising to summon it again once its recovery was over. When they were about halfway out, the Temple began shifting as the puzzle was being solved, and they were able to make it out in decent time. Once they had Black, Aeris also gave him White, and he reverted both back to pyreflies, creating the massive pyre-snow those two did every time.

From there, they returned to Junon, staying at the hotel near the docks for a couple days while they thought and talked about where to go next, finally deciding on maybe going to Cosmo Canyon. They were supposed to leave in the morning, and for some reason, Auryn felt antsy, wanting to just not be trapped inside the hotel room. Nina was sleeping soundly with Alexander to one side of her and Aeris to the other, and Doriss was sleeping by the door, one of her daggers under her pillow. It was early morning, the sun just rising, when Auryn finally had enough and went out to wander the docks for awhile—it had actually always been safe for him at the Junon docks, so it was one of the few areas he wasn't afraid of being.

It was about an hour later, when he was just about to go back to the hotel room, that a sudden spark of worry from the Lifestream and a shout from Doriss made him start to turn—

And he fell straight into sleep as he only vaguely noted a blur of auburn above him and felt a strong arm catch him around the waist.

FoWD

Reno was sitting in the front seat of the helicopter as he ran the last status checks on it for when they would be leaving in a couple hours. He hadn't run the shut-down checks like he should have two days ago when they'd arrived in Junon, so him doing the pre-flight check early meant he could still fix anything in need of repair or maintenance before they'd need to be in the air. So far, everything looked fine, and the helicopter had been refueled almost as soon as they'd landed. The assignment he'd been told to take Alvis on was a fairly simple investigation, and they'd just wrapped it up the evening before, late enough that he'd thought it better to wait for morning to head back to Midgar.

As he finished and the system gave him the all clear, he heard the hold door in the back thrown open as Alvis called urgently, "You here, Reno?"

"Yeah, what's up, yo?" he asked in reply, starting to rise.

"Get us in the air, _now_!" the Rookie answered, tone still urgent as he hauled the hold door closed.

"I'm not cleared ta—"

"Fuck clearance, just _take off_, _before_ Doriss gets here!" Alvis answered in a near-snarl.

Reno's eyes widened as he looked out the window next to him—and saw Doriss heading their way quickly. With a faint sigh as he realized Alvis had snatched the Guards' stray, he called, "Hold on tight, then, yo!" and started up the chopper. He sent it into the air before it was actually ready to be airborne, knowing if they didn't get outside the range of Doriss' grappling hooks, they'd be screwed anyway. He was actually tempted to let her take the blond kid back, but he had a job to do and it would be a lot easier to do it if he didn't 'slip up' often.

The result of trying to take off too soon was a mass of turbulence as they nearly cannon-balled right into the ocean far below the landing platform near the top of the Junon base. Thankfully, Reno was a bit of a dare devil and had practiced early takeoffs, sudden landings, and even flying—and landing—without fuel in the tank, so he was ready for it and could compensate until the blades were able to hold them aloft properly. It didn't escape his attention that Alvis yelped and cursed during the takeoff and subsequent dive, and he wondered if he may actually have hurt the captive.

When they evened out, they skimmed the water's surface for a couple minutes before Reno pulled up again and turned north towards Midgar, hearing a voice over the headset he was supposed to be wearing. Pulling it on, he said, "This is Black Zuu Three. Please repeat. Copy."

"Black Zuu Three, this is Junon Military Air Support. We registered an unauthorized departure. State your reason or return to base. Copy," the person on the other end of the line replied.

"Junon Military Air Support, this is Black Zuu Three. Sorry 'bout the sudden takeoff; we picked up an unexpected package for President Shinra an' had ta evade an attempt to retrieve it." He paused, then added, "We have a Turk still on-base there. She should've taken care o' the pursuers before goin' back to her own business. Ya may 'r may not see 'er—code name's Doriss if you do. Copy." Damn, he hated the formality of the whole system. It would be _so_ much easier if he could just talk like he would to anyone else. But still, he had to cover for her—she was a Hound, and she was a good friend. Even if she _had_ disobeyed Verdot or the President, she could rightly claim to not have known what was going on and reacted in defense of what looked like a twelve or thirteen-year-old child.

"Black Zuu Three, this is Junon Military Air Support. Reason recorded. Safe flight back to Midgar. We'll be asking them to let us know when you arrive. Copy."

"Junon Military Air Support, this is Black Zuu Three. Roger that, an' thanks! You lot take care too. Over and out."

With a sigh as he finished with the formalities, he pulled the chopper up to the height it was supposed to fly at and put it on auto-pilot so he could quickly check on Alvis. No, he couldn't leave the controls for long, but a few minutes would be fine, so he pulled off the headset and rose to go to the back. He paused at the door, watching a rather beat-up Alvis gently cuddle the smaller blond, the Auburn haired Turk's gaze decidedly soft. It also looked like the blond wasn't injured at all, like he was only sleeping peacefully.

"Thinkin' of your kid brother, yo?" he asked after a moment. Alvis looked up, then gave a small nod. In its own right, it made sense, Reno realized, because Alvis had watched his younger brother die not long before he'd gotten into a gang and begun stealing. Alvis' brother had been blond; the two had been 'sired' by two different men, a common story in the Slums, but it hadn't caused Alvis any less caring for the younger boy, or any less pain at his death. "_What_ were ya thinkin', snatchin' 'im from Dor?"

"I was just going to grab us something from that cafe at the dock since it opens early, and he was just—there. I saw him before, knew what he looks like, so I just—thought it would be best to grab him while I could," the other young man replied before his gaze turned a little wryly amused. "But damned if spells don't wear off him fast. I've made sure he suffered no damage, so Sleepel shouldn't just wear off, but just in the time it took to get back here, I've had to refresh it three times now. I'll have to keep at it." He paused, then asked, "But why do they want a boy?"

"For the same reason they want that girl—the Science Department's tests, yo," Reno shrugged. "Ya doin' all right after getting tossed around?"

"I'm fine—it's just some minor scratches and bruises," Alvis assured him. "I don't really want to hand him over, but..."

"Orders 'r' orders," Reno finished the thought. "Fine, take care o' him while I fly." He then went back to the front to retake his seat and check his bearing. It was steady, so he strapped himself in and typed out the first text message he needed to send, one to Doriss saying: _I told Junon's Military that you were there to help us escape from pursuers. Play it up so ya don't get dinged, Ma Lion._

Once he'd finished the first one, he selected Vincent as the recipient and sent to him: _Alvis pulled a snatch-n-run from Doriss. Looks like you gotta deal with the fallout of the new stray reaching the President or Hojo, or both._

By the time he'd finished that one, Doriss had replied with a scathing: _When I get my hands on you and Alvis, I'm going to hurt you so bad you'll wish you were dead!_

He actually chuckled at the reply, knowing it would be true, but only to an extent—once she'd calmed down, her retaliation wouldn't be nearly as bad as she made it sound when she was furious. Also, he couldn't blame her for her reaction. With a faint sigh, he sent back to her: _If it makes ya feel any better, we're not really happy 'bout our orders, either. Here's ta hopin' the kid's gonna be all right._

He didn't get a reply, so put his PHS away and returned his attention to flying the helicopter. Junon to Midgar wasn't a long flight, just a couple hours at best, and most often only around one. They were going to be getting back very early, so he figured he should let Verdot know they were coming—he'd have to instruct them on where to take the boy. Unless Alvis had done it? Not likely with him on the run from Doriss, but still possible.

With an annoyed huff, he called into the back, "You got in touch with Verdot yet, yo?"

"No!" Alvis called back, sounding very tired. "Could you do it?"

Pulling his phone back out, that time he dialed the number for Verdot, having to resist the urge to chuckle when the man was obviously yawning as he asked, "What's the matter at _this_ time of day, Reno?"

"Sorry, but Alvis happened by a bit o' luck an' managed ta snatch the Guards' stray. We're bringin' 'im back, yo, but we kinda don't know where ta take the kid," Reno explained. "I covered for Doriss with Junon's Military, though, 'cause I don't think she knew 'bout the changed orders and we know she's protective of 'im."

Verdot was quiet for a moment before he asked, "What's your ETA?"

"...'Bout thirty-five minutes, yo," Reno replied after checking their position.

"I'll meet you on the landing pad and we'll take things from there," the man answered, then hung up. Reno blinked at his PHS before ending his side and pocketing it again. And, sure enough, Verdot was waiting on the landing pad for them when they arrived, even while an exhausted Alvis had to refresh Sleepel yet again for the dozenth (or more) time. Verdot took the blond from them and told them to go rest.

FoWD

When Auryn woke, it was to a familiar room, all metal and coldness. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to fight off his memories of every time he'd been tortured in this room—that was what the room was _for_. It was rarely used, but there was still the occasional use for it, so it had filled the same purpose in every dimension. As it so happened, it was also one of the hidden rooms accessed through Verdot's office, and once he was there, he had no recourse. Well, not as things normally stood. This time was no different, and the chair he'd been put in was the one attached to the floor—the one which also had various fixtures which were interchangeable on it.

One of the needle (not a medical needle, more like a very large sewing needle) fixtures had been stabbed about half an inch into his arm, causing his Mako blood to well up and drip out slowly, even as it prevented him from being able to teleport. As he'd known, torture it would be. As he had back on the mountain when he'd first met Verde and re-met Tseng, he just accepted what would happen and relaxed, waiting.

"So you're awake," Verdot's—Veld's—familiar voice commented. "Look at me."

At the demand, Auryn vaguely opened his eyes and looked up just enough for him to look in the older man's direction. It was all he was inclined to do—there was no point in more, because his life, and his chances, in this dimension were as good as over.

"You've already given up," the man stated, and he had no desire to reply. With a faint sigh, Verdot pointed out, "I could have done much worse to you already if I meant to. I'd rather you answer some questions for me, but I don't have enough time to go through them all. As such, I've picked a few very important ones. I'd prefer you cooperate and answer them."

That caused his lips to quirk at the hidden threat, knowing what it was. It didn't actually matter, though, because the result would be the same regardless, and unlike the Guards, where at least a few of them had never done anything to harm him, this man hadn't proven to be benevolent. He dropped his head again.

After a silence, the man asked, "What is it about me which you fear so much that you would just—give up so completely?"

"You're already doing it..." he answered softly, tipping his head in the direction of the needle in his arm.

"That's just a warning to keep you in line. Otherwise, if you're cooperative, I won't do anything further."

Auryn _had_ to snort in derision at that. "A 'warning' wouldn't have already stabbed me. This is torture, no matter how you want to look at it. And you _wonder_ why I've already given up? So, just...get it over with already..." His voice caught, partly from fear and partly from helplessness now that he was securely bound to an unmovable chair with no way to escape from it.

There was another silence before Verdot asked, "Why don't you fight back if you don't like this? If what I've heard is true, you should be more than able to."

"Doesn't help if I don't have the will to do anything."

"...That's why they kept you from the Hounds so thoroughly." It was a statement, not a question, so Auryn didn't reply. Then, the man asked, "Tell me, what kinds of abilities do you actually have? You can hear the Lifestream, but you apparently aren't an Ancient, so what _else_ can you do?" After pondering the question for a moment, Auryn thought it much more likely the man was asking him what kind of power controlling him would give the one with said control. That wasn't something he would _ever_ answer, so stayed silent.

A hand connected hard with his cheek, making him hiss and flinch, and Verdot re-issued the question, "Well, what abilities do you have?" The tone of his voice was the kind of tone a person would use to talk about nice weather.

He _hated_ that tone from someone who had just caused him pain.

It didn't make him answer, though, which earned him another slap, but harder and on the opposite cheek—which had the added side effect of digging the needle deeper into his arm. He whimpered faintly, but bit his lip so he didn't cry out.

His chin was yanked up hard, and he was forced to meet Verdot's blank gaze as he said, "You could avoid any pain by answering the question. Why don't you?" Again, he didn't reply—and the hand moved to the pressure point at the base of his skull, at the back of his neck. It only took a moment for agony to lance through his system, making him twitchy as he struggled not to make any noise. That time, the pressure wasn't relieved quickly—

But it cut off suddenly as a voice gasped in horror, "What are you _doing_, Dad?" At the last word, Auryn realized it was Felicia—Percia in this dimension. "Are you—are you _torturing_ a boy who's _already been_ badly tortured?" She sounded pained, betrayed, and like she was suddenly lost. For a long time, there was no response, until she asked softly, "Please don't hurt him anymore..."

"If you can't handle this, then leave," Verdot replied, his tone bland.

"You—" she began, and realization had joined her tone of horror and betrayal. "That's what Tseng meant. That's why he said I shouldn't have chosen so frivolously. I didn't know anything about the differences between them, or that you could—could—would—!"

"I have my orders. Or did that element to the equation never occur to you, Percia?" the older man asked, his tone still bland. It was empty, blank...and Auryn suddenly realized something.

"It's not optional anymore," he whispered. Silence fell. "Something happened which changed things, and the President is demanding when he wants something. Right now, that something is me. I wondered why it took so long. You were avoiding this until now, weren't you...Verdot?"

"That doesn't excuse him—torturing you!" Percia burst out. She sounded pained.

Silence fell again, and Verdot said, "Percia, go to Vincent."

"But then you'll just keep—" she began.

"My time to ask questions is up. I'm moving him to a cell in Hojo's lab. And now that you've seen this, I'm telling you to go to Vincent. You don't belong with the Hounds."

A long silence followed, until Percia asked, "Auryn?"

He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and replied, "What's done is done. You should leave." Of course, it didn't help that he hadn't looked up since he'd been released from Verdot's hold. And Hojo's labs...He wasn't sure if that was going to be worse or better than his current situation, but it was truly out of his hands.

Especially when he felt himself falling into sleep again.

FoWD

Hojo was nothing if not driven. He liked to claim he was brilliant, but half of his work, he knew very well he couldn't actually take credit for. He was far better at creating monsters than at creating actual useful things, and somehow, that was depressing. SOLDIER was one of the few very real breakthroughs he'd had which were nearly all his own work and had valid uses besides destroying things. He was good at spinning his own work to keep his funding, and he _had_ made progress on several fronts of their research, but it had come at a great cost. It wasn't just a cost his subjects paid, and it was why he didn't want their names—he didn't _want_ to be close to them.

Still, he was an eager experimenter, and if he was working on something, he often forgot to do basic things like giving them anesthetics for the pain. It wasn't that he actually _wanted_ to see them suffer, per se...it just seemed a very minor point and a distraction he could do without while he was working on something. If one of his assistants had enough of an initiative to either put one in his hand and tell him what it was, or to administer it themselves without interfering with him, they were normally the ones he promoted first. That was also why Doctor Lucrecia Crescent was his Second—she had both the mind and the guts to take matters into her own hands.

It surprised him to be called into a meeting with the President and Vice President as soon as he finished an experiment, a message passed on by one of his new interns. As such, once he'd cleaned up, he headed to the President's office, stepping inside to see Verdot and Vincent arguing, both elder Shinras glaring, and Lucrecia clearly frustrated as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

The office was arranged with a large, semi-circle desk the President sat behind while the ends extended into the room for others to sit at. Normally, the side closer to the stairs was where the Hounds sat (Verdot was on that side of the table) and the side opposite was where the Guards sat (Vincent and Lady Shinra at the moment, with Lady Shinra closer to the President). Lucrecia was standing at the front of the semi-circle, and clearly unable to get in a word edge-wise as the two top Turks argued over...one of his experimental subjects?

A file folder sitting at his usual seat drew his attention, so he tuned out the argument and quietly walked over to the folder, picked it up, and began reading as he sat down. And almost immediately wondered if any of them had their heads on straight, when he absolutely had no recollection of the subject in question. Blond, gold eyes, name—there were two listed, Auryn Rune as an alias to Edward Elric, his actual name—and an appearance of an older child while his actual age was about sixteen. No, not familiar at all—he'd have remembered golden eyes, as those weren't common on humans.

And yet, the subject had his genetic fingerprint in him. Wasn't that just interesting?

He got to the part about the experiments and damage done to him and quickly realized a multitude of things—this boy was pretty much useless to everyone, and was a uniquely singular entity. Nothing more could feasibly be added to him without unraveling his basic DNA structure, and none of the experiments could be replicated, because he was the first and only person to have survived blood replacement.

A gift given to him as a recipient of Leviathan's Blessing or something similar. It was perfectly reasonable.

Rising, he slapped the folder hard against the desk, drawing all eyes to him. "Ah, Hojo, how soon can you make more of this boy?" the President immediately asked.

"I can't," he answered simply.

A long silence fell as everyone stared at him, Lucrecia with actual curiosity and the others in blank surprise. Finally, the President asked, "Why not?"

"Because replicating the experiments done to him results in a one hundred percent failure rate if the first one doesn't work, and frankly, it having worked with him was due to outside interference. Even SOLDIERs can't survive this with their enhancements, and trying to completely replace their blood with Mako results in death. The terms of Subject E can't be used anywhere else," Hojo explained as simply as he could. He felt like tearing his hair out when dealing with the uninitiated.

"So he's only good to lead us to the Promised Land?" the President asked eagerly.

"Unfortunately, no. He isn't an Ancient and couldn't find it even if he _wanted_ to," he replied in a dry tone. Anticipating the next question, he went on, "Also, just hearing the Lifestream only means in terms of interacting with his immediate environment. It isn't the same thing as an Ancient. The most obvious clue to the fact is how he doesn't seem to grow plants by his mere presence nearby. He never did in my Corel region lab before it was attacked and most of the experiments were released, and he certainly never left a trail of fresh-growth plants for anyone to find or follow. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to see the most recent results of my associate's attempts to fix the damage done by whatever fool thought he should add to an already delicate experiment." As everyone gaped at him, he turned to a now wary Lucrecia and asked, "Shall we, then?"

"But, Hojo!" the President began, making him pause. "If some were added without you knowing it, surely the original ones were worth-while, the ones you did?"

"I'm not the first to delve into animal-human splicing or metamorphose experiments. While some may have minor applications, survival is too rare to be worth the effort or the cost," Hojo dismissed them—it was true, too. He'd tried them before and was more likely to get a pile of mush or a corpse than something useful. "Though, I could look further into possible splicing, but it would be nothing like what Subject E displays. Shall I arrange a formal project?"

Another silence fell, then a disappointed President Shinra huffed and waved him off. "Fine, go take care of your experiment. We'll stick with SOLDIER for now."

With a motion for Lucrecia to follow him, he turned and left the room, noting how she glanced over at Vincent and Lady Shinra before hurrying after him. Now wasn't this whole thing just such an interesting by-play. He'd never been interested in politics, but this was _almost_ enough to make him interested.

In the meantime, he _did_ still want the full records and some final tests of his new Subject E. The data was still valuable, after all, but beyond that, Lucrecia could keep him, since it really didn't matter that much to him.


	38. 37-Results Less Harmful

**A/N:** To be clear in case anyone gets confused:

Subject E = Ed/Auryn (Because Ed's real name is noted, Hojo defaulted to 'E' for him)

Subject A = Angeal (Yes, Hollander used the same coding for the Science Department's records, he just tends to call Angeal and Genesis—or Subject G—by their names)

Results Less Harmful

As Lucrecia followed Hojo back to his labs, she puzzled over his behavior, but said nothing until they were in the isolated cell block Auryn had been moved to. As he turned to face her, she asked him suddenly, "What do you intend to do with Auryn?"

He gave her an annoyed look and answered, "I already told you, he's as good as useless as an experimental subject. I just want a few minor tests done—nothing intrusive—and for you to keep me updated on your work on him. Otherwise, he's all yours. You _are_ aware he's been given Leviathan's Blessing, aren't you?"

"It's one of the main assumptions we've been operating on, but he's not inclined to just share with us everything about himself," she answered darkly. "Torture and experimentation tends to do that to unwilling subjects."

"To whom does the other genetic fingerprint belong?" Hojo asked curiously. The woman wondered if he was deliberately changing the subject or just didn't care any further about the previous topic, assuming it addressed.

"A man named Fuhito. The Turks are all hunting him right now. He's the one who replaced Auryn's blood." As much as she was normally tight-lipped, she didn't think it was worth keeping that from Hojo. "He's _also_ the one who just blew up part of the city."

"...That would explain the Turks hunting him," Hojo agreed, then turned to look towards the hall to the cells. After a moment, he turned back to her and held out the file folder. "Do I have your agreement to keep me appraised of your work, as I've requested of your work with Subject S?"

"Call him Sephiroth," she replied in annoyance, reaching for the folder. "And call your 'new' Subject 'E' either Auryn or Edward."

"Then explain to me why you requested updated data from Hollander out of schedule," the man bluntly retorted, refusing to relinquish the folder.

After a long minute of trying to decide what to say, the woman finally explained, "Auryn has a great deal of knowledge about things which can, or will, go wrong and how to either mitigate or negate them. One of the things he told us about was how Commander Genesis Rhapsodos is slowly degenerating, effectively rotting from the inside out. Since he's actually the Turk Kariya's son, I'd like to be able to save him. I also discovered Commander Angeal Hewley is in a similar situation, but the deterioration is slower. None of the real details of their states have been in the records of Hollander's we've taken at the scheduled times, so I thought taking them out of schedule would tell me what I wanted to know, and it did."

"He's falsifying his results, you mean?" Hojo asked with a raised brow.

"He is," she agreed evenly.

Hojo released the folder to her grip and told her, "You can have Subject G moved to your care without contest due to his status as a so-called 'failed experiment'. You don't even need to go through the President, or me, and you don't need Hollander's agreement or approval. Just fill out the experiment requisition forms and turn them in as usual. Subject A has the same problem, you say?"

"He does," she agreed, still annoyed that he wouldn't use names.

"Give me copies of the data which showed the actual state of his experiments. I've wanted him out of my way for some time, and this is a very good way to accomplish that, so I'll take care of it. Once he's been dealt with, you can play Miss Fix-It with Subject A as well, and any others of his damaged experiments you like."

"...Are you actually offering to help me save them?"

"Not in particular. Frankly, I detest the man, and ruining his life's work—which is ultimately what you're doing—happens to suit me. Will you wait here until I've spoken with Subject E?" the man asked her expectantly.

With a faint sigh, Lucrecia nodded and agreed, "Yes, it's best if I wait here so I can escort him back. Chances are he's going to be very disoriented because of this whole...mess, and I wouldn't count on him being able to manage on his own."

Hojo nodded and turned to head down the hall, even as Lucrecia just had to wonder what deity had managed to look out so neatly for Auryn's welfare as to get him out of another incident like the ones he'd already been through.

FoWD

Auryn woke as the door opened, and a glance showed him Hojo. He flinched and backed into the furthest corner he could reach, knowing it wouldn't help but having to try anyway.

"That's quite enough. You're a useless experiment to me, and what's been done to you can't be replicated. There's data I'll want from you, but nothing which would amount to torture, and that will be at a later time. From my quarter, you don't have a reason to be afraid," Hojo told him bluntly.

After taking a minute to process the words, Auryn looked up slowly, gazing at the man in confusion. "...There's nothing _else_ you want to do to me?"

"So it _is_ Leviathan's Blessing, or something very similar," Hojo smirked, and Auryn's eyes widened. "After looking at Lucrecia's records, if anyone tries to add anything else to your DNA, it will simply unravel—collapse under the weight of the sheer strain. She can work to fix what's been done, but even she can't _add to_ it without getting such a result. As such, there's nothing more which _can_ be done to you. It is nice to have answers to some of my questions from those old projects, though, hence my minor interest in the current state of your body. I have no intention of intervening any further once I've prepared for the few tests I want to run—anything else will come to me through Lucrecia."

Again, Auryn blinked at him, trying to process the words, then tipped his head to the side as he was reminded of the one Hojo who had tried to help him. Hojo almost always figured out the part about 'something similar to Leviathan's Blessing', so he wasn't as surprised as if someone else had bluntly said it, but still...Hojo helping him was a rarity. Though, he wasn't sure if this counted as 'helping' or as just a simple lack of interest. Either way, if he was going to be true to his word...Did that mean he really could go back home safely?

"What about the President?" Auryn asked worriedly.

"I made it very clear to him that, not only could you not be replicated, but you also couldn't lead him to the Promised Land. As such, he shouldn't bother you further, nor should anyone working in his name," the older man told him. "Lucrecia is waiting for you outside if you're in agreement with returning for a few hours one day to finish up the tests I want to run?"

"...Are they...intrusive tests?" he asked warily.

"No," Hojo replied with a raised brow. He appeared to be pondering something, and to Auryn, that was usually not a good thing, but then the man surprised him by saying, "I am aware my nature isn't a pleasant one, but I would hazard a guess and say the version, or perhaps versions, of me you've previously met have been...significantly more vile than I. Am I right?"

Blinking, then blinking again at the man's admission—he never admitted to knowing he was doing things he shouldn't have been, after all, because admitting to that took having some sort of moral compass—he admitted, "They were much worse, all but one."

"And the one who wasn't?" the older, Wutain man asked with very real curiosity.

"...He's the reason I survived long enough to reach Lucrecia here to have some of those things honestly fixed," Auryn sighed faintly.

"He made some attempt to repair the chaos of your current DNA, you mean?"

For all Hojo's fascination was like a child's, that somehow made it creepy. The blond had to repress a shudder, but told the man, "He did what he could at the time. That one was just—backwards in everything but the President's desire for absolute control."

"Hmm..." the man murmured thoughtfully, then asked, "Why do you seem inclined to share this information with me?"

"Because, as it turns out, like him, you have some sort of moral compass," the younger man replied faintly. "So discussing that isn't...I don't really have words for it."

"Perhaps because you're trying to define it with a negative rather than a positive. Rather than it _not_ being something, try re-phrasing to something even as simple as 'it _is_ expected,'" Hojo told him, actually looking somewhat amused.

Auryn was again left blinking at him, trying to figure this guy out. But after a pause to think about the words, it sounded more like a mental self-help recommendation, and he was suddenly possessed by an urge to start giggling. Really, Hojo essentially offering self-help advice? Even the one who had tried to help him before hadn't bothered with that, and the scientist didn't really have the persona to make it viable anyway. Though, oddly enough, it was valid advice in general—make a statement positive instead of negative when it could be done. It was usually easier to define that way.

When he stopped giggling, Hojo asked in mild annoyance, "Are you quite done now?"

"Yes, sorry," the blond agreed, still feeling amused. Though he was now also a little worried about retaliation.

As it so happened, he needn't have done so, as the man told him, "We shall discuss this more at another time. Now, if you're able, I'll show you back to Lucrecia's care."

A quick mental check of his body verified that all his injuries from Verdot had healed, so he gave a small nod and said, "I've recovered, so I should be fine."

"Come, then," the man agreed, turning to the door, and Auryn pretty much scrambled to follow him. He was soon led down a familiar hall and to the entryway to the isolation cell block, where—sure enough—a relieved-looking Lucrecia waited. "Here he is, safe and sound," Hojo told her, and she gave a nod as she beckoned Auryn to her.

"Thank you for this, Professor," she told the Wutain, then turned her attention to the blond as she asked, "How are you doing, Auryn?"

"Fine. Just—really confused," he answered honestly. And he was, because something like this had never happened before in such a situation.

"Regardless, I'll forward you the forms giving you charge of Subje—" Hojo abruptly cut himself off at Lucrecia's glare, pushed his glasses up, and went on, "Auryn, just to be sure the record exists stating my awareness of and agreement to the arrangement. It should prevent further issue in this regard. Anything outside his application to the Science Department isn't my business, but the President is now aware of the lack of viability here, so he should have diverted to other projects."

"I'll let you know when my copy of the forms reaches me, then. Was there anything else?" the woman asked, hand resting on Auryn's shoulder.

"No, go ahead. Just see Hollander's work to me by the end of the week," he replied, waving them away.

A nod from Lucrecia was the last of their discussion before she led Auryn out of the block, through the Science Department's floor sixty-eight, and to the stairs to go up to floor sixty-nine—where Lady Shinra's office was. Shortly after, she was leading him into the woman's office, where Auryn was mildly surprised to see Percia with Vincent and Lady Shinra. The older man's hand rested on her shoulder and she looked miserable, but her mood improved a fair bit when she saw Auryn.

"So, how did things go? What did you need to offer to Hojo for this?" Lady Shinra asked, gaze wary and almost pained.

"He actually _meant_ what he said to the President," the brown haired woman answered, shaking her head like she was still in shock and trying to adapt. "I thought it would be a lot worse, too, but he doesn't _want_ Auryn, other than for a few tests he'll arrange for, and quite willingly turned him back over to me. He's even offered me access to Genesis and Angeal so I can repair their damage, as well, though that was more due to his dislike of Hollander and a desire to see him fall. As such, the worst we apparently have to worry about is what Verdot did to him—what Percia witnessed."

"I've had a lot worse, believe me," Auryn pointed out a bit apprehensively.

"Stop brushing it off like it's nothing!" Percia glared at him. "Stop—justifying what he did! He never had any right—" Both Vincent and Lady Shinra looked exhausted by her outburst.

"I don't think you actually get what that was about, Percia," Auryn cut her off quietly, and Lucrecia, Vincent, and Lady Shinra all turned their gazes to him in surprise.

"Do _you_?" she replied with a glare. "Besides unwarranted abuse, that is."

"You...know about the 'scenarios'?" he asked her, and she nodded, looking puzzled. "Every time Verdot was under pressure and having to force himself to do something he didn't actually _want_ to, he'd go blank. I mean, he'd do what he had to for whatever his goal was—which would include presenting whatever emotion seemed appropriate for the situation—but when just talking about it, he'd have no expression. When he was talking to you, he had no expression. Whatever happened to catch the President's eye had him give Verdot orders he'd normally not get, and to keep his position intact, Verdot had to obey them."

"Is his position worth torturing someone?" Percia asked warily.

"I'm biased as the all-too-often victim," Auryn sighed faintly, wrapping his arms around himself. "But there were a number of times in the scenarios where what he did to me gave him the ability to pull strings which saved several other lives—Turks, SOLDIERs, civilians, or so on. His position lets him maneuver things most people, not even Lady Shinra, can. If he loses that, he loses his own ability to protect the people he cares about. To him, I'm a stranger, so his choice is to harm a stranger in exchange for saving people like you. Maybe it's not fair, but it's also not unreasonable. What's far worse is being tortured just for the sake of it."

A long, long silence followed the words, until finally, Lady Shinra commented, "That was a shocking degree of insight, Auryn. Thank you for sharing it. Am I correct to assess that your injuries were, comparatively, fairly minor and you've already recovered?"

"Yes," the blond agreed. "What _did_ set off the President?"

"The first point was how the bomb prevented us from being able to modify Donnel's memory," Vincent sighed faintly. "And he was sent back to the building for care after being injured while all the rest of us were busy. The President went directly to him at that time, and found out about your ability to hear the Lifestream. When Doriss pulled a runner with you, Balto and Anki searched her room and found—apparently she somehow got her hands on Lucrecia's files on you and several other people. Those files included the data on Hojo's fingerprint in you, as well as everything that had been done to you. The orders to retrieve you were still in effect, even though we had expected to have to wait until Doriss returned with you to have to deal with it. As it turned out, Alvis found you by chance and took the opportunity to retrieve you."

"...Hence why I had no warning and woke up in that room..." Auryn sighed tiredly. "At least it's become a non-issue this time."

"Thankfully, yes," Vincent agreed. "We still have plenty of work to do, but it should be easier to keep you safe now that we don't actually need to worry about your medical records or keeping that hidden."

"Okay, can I go hide in my room for awhile now?" the blond had to ask, feeling a shiver run through him.

After a surprised blink, all the others in the room chuckled faintly, and Lucrecia asked Lady Shinra, "Was there anything else, or can I return him to his apartment for Kariya to take care of?"

"Anything else can wait," Lady Shinra replied, a faint smile on her face. "Please see him safely back to Kariya's care. And Lucrecia...that he's not in the kind of panic state which would require your intervention says a great deal about how much was due to the experiments in themselves. It's good to see him handling all this so well. Thank you for your work on that."

The woman smiled and turned to Auryn to say, "Let's head back, then. Kariya, Ansha, and Tseng have been very worried, and let's not even get started on Doriss or Donnel. They'll be relieved to see you."

"Okay," he agreed, hoping they would let him rest for the day, at least.

As they were leaving Lady Shinra's office, however, he had a sudden thought and reached for his Carbuncle Materia, the one—probably Doriss had it since he'd been kidnapped in Junon—and asked, _:Could I Summon you to watch over someone for me?:_

_:Watch over someone?:_ the Summon asked curiously in reply.

_:Lady Shinra. Her husband has her slated for death, but I'm pretty sure the man he's ordered to do the task doesn't actually want to. If, however, her usual protector can't be there, he'll still take the opportunity. While Vincent has mostly been able to be there, something could change on a moment's notice. I'd like you to keep yourself hidden, but hang around her so you can shield her if no one else is there to protect her or things go bad really fast,:_ he explained.

_:I can do that!:_ Carbuncle agreed eagerly. _:It sounds like fun!:_

As they were stepping out the door, Auryn mentally tugged Carbuncle to a nearby corner in the office where it wouldn't be seen, sent it a grateful sense, and left the office with Lucrecia. Feeling a little better, he let her lead him down the hall to the elevator and to the floor where his hidden apartment was. However, as they were nearing Kariya's apartment, the door at the end of the hall, past the corner and on the crossing hall, opened—and Alvis stepped out. The two of them stopped as Alvis froze for a moment, but then the auburn haired Turk shook himself out and faced them.

"Does that mean whatever that was about is resolved now and you aren't one of our targets anymore?" the Turk asked, just loudly enough for Auryn and Lucrecia to hear.

"...Yes, as far as I know," Auryn agreed tentatively.

To his surprise, Alvis nodded and said, "Good, I'm glad. I didn't like taking you back here to—whatever it was going to be. And I'm sorry I was stupid enough to act instead of just walking away."

"...Uh..." Auryn just blinked and stared in shock. Alvis gave a faint, wry smile, then gave a wave and headed further down the hall. Since Kariya's room was at the end of the hall before the crossing hall, Alvis' route took him left down the hall. If Auryn was right, the apartment the Turk had just stepped out of was Reno's, and by turning right at Reno's door, a person would reach the stairs, while turning left led along the crossing hall, which formed a full square around the floor except for the paths to the stairs and the elevator. Alvis' room was likely further down the hall.

After a short pause, Lucrecia took his elbow and drew him the rest of the way to Kariya's door, where she knocked. When the man opened the door, Auryn realized right away how all the Turks he was most familiar with in this dimension were there, even Doriss and Donnel. After everything else that day, he was barely able to deal with the multitudes of hugs he got when he returned to Kariya's apartment before saying he really, really wanted to rest. Thankfully, they let him, instead turning their attention to Lucrecia to find out what all had happened.

In his room, he pulled Carbuncle's Materia back to him and returned it to his basket so no one would be able to call it away from the new guard duty he'd given it. Though, he was aware he'd have to occasionally allow the Summon to return to spirit form every now and then, but he'd definitely be able to leave it for a few weeks without issue. Once he'd done that, he gathered clean clothes and went to shower, trying to scrub himself clean. Even knowing Verdot hadn't wanted to hurt him, and hadn't gotten far in doing so, Percia was right—it was still abuse, and he still felt like he was bruised all over and dirty. Knowing he couldn't wash the feeling away didn't stop him from trying.

As he stood under the hot water, he asked Minerva, _:If Doriss is here, where are Aeris and Nina?:_

She first sent him a puzzled sense over Doriss' name, then replied to the part about the two younger Cetra, _:I had felt it best they go to Cosmo Canyon for a time. They should be more than able to make the journey, so when they asked my advice on returning to find you or proceeding to the tentative destination you had, the latter would offer more protection and available knowledge. It is also quite likely my Energy Healer and the others with her will join them there for a time. If it is possible, you may wish to join them?:_

By the fact that the last was questioning, Minerva was leaving the decision to him—there was no pressing reason for him to go there. As such, he told her, _:I'm not sure I'm able to go, or will be able to any time soon. There's still a lot wrong with me which needs to be fixed.:_

_:As you wish. Recover well, my Ancient Sentinel,:_ she told him with a faint smile.

_:Did you...:_ he began, then paused, so she sent him a questioning sense. _:Did you actually cause things to turn out the way they did so I wouldn't be tortured again?:_

_:While I would have were I able to influence non-Cetra so easily, the outcome of this incident was not my doing. I am also grateful it was largely harmless. Perhaps the difference lies in how little of Jeh-nova the creator of my Silver Sentinel has within him,:_ she explained.

Blinking, Auryn commented to her, _:It's been awhile since you've called him that. Does that mean you're sure he's already been saved here? There won't be a 'Nightmare' to try to stop?:_

_:He is easily as firmly mine as you were able to make him in the first dimension I placed you in, if not more so,:_ Minerva smiled into his mind. _:This, too, is another divergence which is in your favor.:_

Breathing a sigh of relief—the Nightmare version of Sephiroth (or Qliphoth, for that matter) was a super-powered killing monster who enjoyed suffering and death more than the worst Hojo and Fuhito combined. Trying to stop him wasn't easy, and normally took several people. Or, oddly enough, either an enhanced Cloud or Vincent-as-Chaos. Though, whenever it was Cloud who did it, he was easily as depressing as the very first Vincent he'd met until he managed to get the guy to leave Shinra Manor.

_:That's good to know. And Qliphoth?:_

_:The little one is being raised slowly, despite having been created by means of cloning. While he may later present a difficulty of some sort, he is, in fact, in a much more stable position this time. I perceive little danger from him in the future, and certainly none in the near future, while other elements are being dealt with.:_

_:...Do you want Zirconaide and Felicia—your Earthen Champion—merged in this dimension? Because she isn't already bearing one of the shards, I'd have to ask her if she'd be willing, so I need to know if you want that to happen.:_

_:I would like to meet my Earthen Champion at my core to discuss the issue with her. There is no urgent need to do so, particularly not should you share the locations of the shards with the Turks so they may retrieve them before _that man_ is able. I would not force the merging on her though it is beneficial for them both, and rather than burden you with having to request it of her, I would prefer to do so myself,:_ Minerva explained to him, sending him a sense rather like a hug, with a sense of 'thanks for asking.'

_:I'll see what I can do, then. Thanks,:_ he replied to her, returning the sense of a hug to her.

Done with the discussion, he realized he'd been in the shower for quite awhile, so got out and dressed. Returning to his room, he crawled into bed, released a gust of air—and promptly fell asleep.


	39. 38-Plan a Plant

Plan a Plant

Tseng felt tired when he left Kariya's apartment not long after Lucrecia did. It wasn't something as simple as just having gotten a great deal of information dumped on him, or how worried he'd been since finding out the Hounds had gotten to Auryn.

He felt torn.

Lucrecia had also told them what Auryn had assessed as Verdot's reasons for his actions, and as much as he hated to admit it, he agreed with the actions and would have done the same in the same situation. To think he would actually choose to harm someone, even a stranger, in such a way if it meant he could maintain valid power for something far more dire...It was a shock to his system. Just as he'd been surprised to realize Auryn had valid reason to fear him because he could be pushed into justifying torture...

Then, he snorted faintly as he realized his agreement with Verdot's reasons were just an extension of that.

Blinking, Tseng realized he hadn't gone far down the hall, and oddly enough, the path he'd chosen to get back to his own room was the one where almost all the Hounds' rooms were. Verdot's room was at the end of the hall, in the corner room, and Tseng's mind was suddenly in 'hyper mode' as he assessed multiple points all at once. Something was just at the edge of his mind, something important, and somehow, he knew it was something he'd have to discuss with Verdot, not with Vincent. Due to his new awareness of his own nature, he also knew he was equal parts Guard and Hound, and he very much wanted to still work with them.

It only took him a minute to head for Verdot's room, wondering if he would be there at that time of day. Technically, he shouldn't have been, but with the day's chaos—he felt he may as well check. Knocking on the door at first produced no response, though something told him to stay there and try again. Soon after he knocked the second time, the door opened, and a startled—and rather tired—Verdot peered at him in something like lack of comprehension.

"Is it all right if I talk with you?" Tseng asked.

After a pause, the older man gave a faint sigh and motioned him inside as he stepped out of the way for the younger Turk. Once Tseng had stepped inside past him, he shut the door and said in a resigned tone, "So it's your turn to lit into me for what happened to the Guards' stray."

Turning back to him, Tseng answered, "Not in particular. Of course, I'd have preferred it not happen at all, but...I've had time to think about the situation, especially with the insight Auryn has into it, and I realized I would make the same decision." Verdot's eyes widened almost comically in shock at the words. "I actually have something else on my mind, some...I guess a detail that's at the edge of my mind and won't come clear. My first thought was to discuss it with you, and I think there's a reason for that—any time this has happened before, the person I most wanted to talk with about it was always the one I most needed to speak with to work it out."

For a minute, Verdot just stared at him, then surprised him by reaching out to give him a tight hug. It didn't last long, but it was enough for Tseng to realize how much the man was hurting and how much his support meant to him. When the older Turk released him, looking a little embarrassed, he cleared this throat and said, "Sorry about that. When I realized you meant it, I just..."

"It's an emotional thing, and I don't think it could ever not be," Tseng replied wryly. "But I never imagined you as the sort to hug anyone, let alone me with how little time we've spent together before I ended up in the Hounds' office."

"I've been keeping an eye on you the whole time, though. It hurt when you chose the Guards, even though I know why you did," Verdot answered. "If you'd chosen the Hounds, you'd have been aware sooner that I have a fatherly sort of fondness for you. With the way things have gone lately, you're pretty much all I have left of my—immediate 'family', so your support just now means more than you can imagine."

That time, Tseng was left staring in wide-eyed shock. As much as he cared about Vincent, the man most certainly wasn't at all fatherly with him—and he knew the difference by the way the man treated Sephiroth. To think it was Verdot who would feel so strongly, and he had never realized it, was shocking in several aspects.

He wasn't left any more time to think about the revelation as Verdot took his shoulder in one hand and guided him to his living room, made him sit on the couch, and quickly went to retrieve drinks for them. He then sat beside the younger man and asked, "So, what was it that actually brought you here, Tseng?"

Giving himself a small shake as he glanced around the apartment—largely the same furniture as it came with, but with many cloth items of various sorts in varying colors draped over furniture—he turned back to the man and said, "I keep going back to how Fuhito keeps evading us, and to the fact that he would normally have a bar in the Slums as a base. The thing is that the information came from Auryn, and while nearly everything he offers us is valid, some things have changed significantly enough to have possibly changed the location. But, we can't check that without being able to get someone established there who isn't widely known as a Turk. If it's a different bar, or a different building entirely because of what's changed between his past experiences and this one, what then?"

Verdot blinked a few times, then tipped his head thoughtfully to the side, asking, "So what's different between now and his past experiences, and what was the established bar?"

"In the previous ones, apparently something had played out differently, leaving Percia without her memory three years ago, and having been 'rescued' by Fuhito, leading to her being one of AVALANCHE's leaders," Tseng explained, and the older man's eyes widened in alarm. He held up a hand in the 'wait' motion and added, "Auryn swears by her honor and loyalty—she's never been cut from the same cloth as Fuhito. Anyway, in those scenarios, the bar they always appropriated was Seventh Heaven in the Sector Seven Slums. If she had been the one to establish the location, he may not have access to it in this one, where she's not one of his at all."

After a long pause, Verdot murmured, "I see. So, at face value, we can't affirm the given location due to the shift in AVALANCHE's membership th—Auryn was familiar with. You have a point, and it's a valid one. Let me think for a few minutes, because Seventh Heaven is a decidedly unique location which ended up with new ownership recently—it wasn't called Seventh Heaven before that."

Tseng nodded, and the man shifted to gaze absently towards the balcony doors as he thought. The Wutain turned his gaze to the various cloth items around the room, noting blankets on all the living room furniture, most of them in various blues and greens with brown and red highlights. The ones in the kitchen—table cloth, place mats, and chair cushions—were more whimsical in purple with images of cartoon baby animals on them, something he thought was either the man's wife's or daughter's influence. On the television and stereo stand across the room from the living room couch and chairs, however, was a drape in black and red which looked more like a battle site, making it jarring in the space as a whole.

"That one reminds me the world isn't all sunshine and roses," Verdot cut into his thoughts, startling him out of his observation and making him turn to meet the man's gaze. He looked wry. "I've had it there since I was given orders to try to eliminate Lady Shinra." When Tseng blinked, Verdot went on to the topic of Fuhito, saying, "There are five buildings in total which fit the same qualifications as Seventh Heaven, all five in the Slums because they're all original buildings from the towns before Midgar was built. They aren't homes, they're businesses. With Seventh Heaven, three are bars and the other two are shops.

"We'd have to stake out the shops in the traditional way, but it may be possible to infiltrate a Turk into the bars for more liberal observation. Of Turks who could actually pull off the persona of one who would be in those kinds of places and who aren't widely known or recognized as Turks, there's only three, and one of those is a Guard, so we'd need Vincent's cooperation. The three are Alvis, Ruluf, and Sirra. What do you think?" Verdot asked curiously.

Immediately, Tseng's mind latched on to Sirra. "Ruluf would be out anyway because of his former ties to Corneo—we'd be _asking_ for trouble using him. Alvis is too new to the Turks and won't have the experience for the kind of long-term stakeout this would be. Sirra's the best option, then, and she'll need to establish herself as a regular at those places, I think, before Fuhito would risk showing himself—that also means she won't be able to just head down to the Slums on the train, or return to Headquarters while she's doing this. In the Slums, to allow her the combat power, her best bet is to act as a free-lance mercenary who walked in from outside of Midgar one day."

"That will mean leaving virtually everything in her own hands, with no support unless she asks for it," Verdot pointed out. "And didn't you send her to one of his bases, making her known to him?"

"As far as I could tell, he left his people there for that rather than staying himself, because only—I guess a week later, he was blowing up Midgar from an apparently established location in the core pillar. He probably won't know her on sight because he never saw her. Leaving things to Sirra is likely for the best, and I _know_ she has a vendetta against him," Tseng agreed. "As long as she has sufficient funds for her cover, there shouldn't be a problem. Unless she's never done mercenary work?"

"Oh, she did it, and funded herself quite nicely, too, before we found her," the older man informed the younger in amusement. "How you keep doing that so easily is rather remarkable." He then rose and said, "And now that I'm feeling better, we can go grab a meal and head to the office to handle the rest of the day's work until we can fill her in. Unless you'd rather not?"

The hopeful expression on the man's face caused Tseng's lips to quirk. He also rose and said, "I don't have any assignments yet for today, so chances are I won't until at least tomorrow. Let's go to the office."

"Good. I'll have you working on mission assignments while I get caught up on the paperwork which didn't get done while I was away." As they left the apartment, Verdot rested his arm around Tseng's shoulders, and Tseng decided he didn't mind the action, regardless of the older man's need for extra assurance right then.

FoWD

Auryn woke to a hand on his shoulder and lashed out instinctively, causing someone to draw in a sharp breath and back up, saying quietly, "Easy now, Auryn. It's just me. You _know_ I won't hurt you." Finally, his mind started working again and he realized it was Kariya's voice. When he opened his eyes and sought out the man's location, he found him standing beside the bed, hands raised in a defensive and placating motion. One of them showed a red mark—likely Auryn's doing and the reason he'd pulled back. "All right now?" Kariya asked, meeting his gaze.

"...Yeah," the blond agreed quietly, feeling unsettled. "Why did you wake me?"

"I have to go check on Shalua and Shelke and figure out what to do with them now that the residence Lady Shinra had arranged for them doesn't exist anymore. They should be able to move into a new place soon, but for now, we've had to improvise, and for most of the time I've had to visit with them, you weren't here, so...I thought I should let you know. Supper's ready for you whenever you want it, and Rude's here today to make sure you're okay. I should be back by the time you usually go to bed," the man filled him in, obviously gauging his reaction.

At first, Auryn needed time to process the words, but then sighed faintly and nodded, saying, "Fine. If you have to go, head out then. I can manage for a night as long as there's food ready."

"About that..." Kariya began, then gave him a curious look. "Do you know how to cook?"

"...I'm nowhere near as good as you are, but somewhat, yes," Auryn replied cautiously.

"When I was being held by Fuhito...Why didn't you head over to my apartment and make yourself something to eat?" the man asked shrewdly. "If you were hungry, that would have been the logical course of action."

"Not for someone used to being starved," the blond replied quietly, and the man blinked in surprise. "Well, not quite just that. At the time, you hadn't told me you were going anywhere, so I thought you were there and had just decided complete avoidance was the better option, even to the point of letting me starve. Ansha and Doriss were both busy at that point, so I didn't think I could ask them, and everyone else, I was too scared to try. Since I thought you were in your apartment and 'angry' with me for what I had said, I didn't dare disturb you or risk physical retaliation."

"...I didn't tell you?" Kariya blinked in surprise, then looked off to the side with a small, puzzled frown as he apparently thought deeply about the point. "...Now that you mention it, I don't have a memory of doing so, either, so you're likely right and I _didn't_ remember to tell you I was leaving. Another point in favor of how out of sorts I was then." His gaze returned to Auryn's as he said, "And I'm truly sorry for that now that I know it caused you to starve for something which was never actually an issue. So, this time, make sure you go eat, okay?"

Auryn nodded, so the man left. When he was gone, the blond sighed as he thought back to what Kariya had said about Rude being there. The memories were even bad with him—the man who had been a father figure to him had tortured him as much as any of the others. It placed Auryn's fear of him on the same level as his fear of Balto, but not as high as his fear of Tseng, or even of Verdot. He was sure no one had meant harm by doing it, but Rude was one of the _worst_ ones to have left with him as a short-term minder. It didn't help that his previous feelings for the man got involved and made things even more painful. Every time.

"Kariya warned me of this," Rude's familiar voice said quietly, startling him into looking up at the familiar, bald man with nearly Ishbalan-dark skin. Auryn vaguely mused over how, even after so long on Gaia, he _still_ compared the man to an Ishbalan in color—a purely Amestrian reference. The man removed his sunglasses to meet his gaze and add, "Tseng was the first. It's my turn now."

With a faint sigh, the blond murmured, "You make it sound _easy_..."

"What was that?" the man asked in confusion—with Auryn speaking so softly, he hadn't heard the words clearly.

"Just..." the younger man began in a louder voice, not sure how much he should say right then. Finally, he settled on, "For Turks I didn't know especially well, like Alvis or Quis, it would be hard enough, but for the ones I knew better, like you or Freyra or Balto—it's _a lot_ harder. There's too much...feeling, both ways...The way you're talking, it's like you think this would be easy..."

Rude shrugged, then sighed faintly. "It's rehabilitation. That only works with time and companionship." He paused awkwardly, obviously not sure about what, or how much, he'd said.

The familiar behavior from Rude, who normally said very little, caused Auryn to smile faintly and comment, "I think I need a PHS now."

"...You do?" Rude asked in genuine surprise.

"Yeah...You always were short on words to say, so sometimes using a text message instead helped you to say it," the blond explained, becoming a little wistful at those old memories.

"I see," the man commented. "Now, come eat."

Slowly, with a faint sigh, the blond pushed himself up and followed the man back to Kariya's apartment to eat.

Rehabilitation, huh? Did that mean he was going to start seeing all the ones who had mostly been absent up to that point?

FoWD

Tseng had just finished with another assignment and opened the door of Verdot's office to hand it off—only to pause as he saw Sirra sitting at her desk as she apparently searched for something. It was obvious she'd just gotten there recently, and a look around the room showed him the day shift Hounds getting ready to leave as night shift ones took over. Since Cissnei was already gone, he headed to her desk and left the folder with the assignment for her for the next day and turned to face Sirra. The woman had paused in what she had been doing to look up at him oddly.

With a faintly amused smile, he said, "Since I apparently have your attention, Sirra, Verdot and I need to speak with you about an assignment."

Her brow rose and she asked, "What the Hellfire're you doing here after our boss tortured your favorite stray?"

The younger Wutain raised a brow himself as all the other Hounds turned to stare at him in surprise. "Yes, I'm not happy it happened, but I had to acknowledge I'd have done the same in his place, so I don't hold it against him. Even Auryn technically doesn't, and in a roundabout way, it actually did us all a favor. As to my being here—the Guards had no work for me and Verdot has a lot of paperwork to catch up on, so I'm arranging assignments while he does that. Yours is just a bit of a different case we need to discuss with you."

"Tseng, did you just say you could accept, or even perform, acts of torture?" Doriss asked, with a clear tick in her brow.

He looked at her evenly and replied, "I found out something about Fuhito a while back which made me realize I could quite happily torture him in retaliation for what he's done. The only thing staying my hand is the realization that it would give him an opportunity to escape. Back then, I had to accept that certain circumstances will cause a violent and negative reaction from me—the position Verdot was in just then was one of them. No, I would never torture someone without cause. The difference is in the definition of a viable 'cause'."

His words left a long silence, until Sirra growled something under her breath and pushed herself to her feet. "Fine, let's talk about my new assignment. It better not be another shit one," she replied in annoyance, heading for the closed door to Verdot's office.

With an amused look, Tseng followed her as he replied, "I think you'll like it. After all, it means you'll be able to take care of one of your vendettas with your own hands."

She snorted as she opened the office door and stepped into the older man's office, where he looked up from his paperwork, then motioned her at a seat across the desk from him. Tseng joined them and shut the door, sitting in the free seat. When Verdot went back to his paperwork almost immediately, Tseng told her, "We know Fuhito has another base in Midgar, but we don't know for certain where it is, and we need to find that out. I don't think he personally saw you in Wutai, so you're our best option to become established at certain bars in the Slums so he lets his guard down."

Her brow rose and she pointed out, "That fucker won't come near a Turk."

"That's why you won't look like one," Tseng told her dryly. "You were also the best one for this job because of your background as a mercenary, your ability to blend in to such a setting, and your extended time with us, which should mean you're capable of supporting yourself until he's dealt with."

"...Long-term hiding out in the Slums and killing shit for pay?" Sirra smirked. "Sounds pretty good to me. Haven't done my old merc work for awhile, either, so I could use the practice. What's the whole plan, then? If I have to settle in at bars, does that mean I can drink on the clock?"

"You can drink as long as you don't get too drunk to work—that's part of the premise of the case. You couldn't establish yourself, either as a merc or at bars, without doing so. And I know you hold your liquor well," Verdot put in, setting aside the sheet he'd been working on and looking up at her. She blinked, so he said, "You'll be plainclothes and walk in from outside Midgar. While you'll have your ID on you, it won't be something you ever use—we'll give you the ID you'll have to use for that case in the morning. Nothing you carry on you will have the Shinra logo unless it's something mass-produced by Shinra Company."

"There are technically five locations he may turn up at, and three of those are bars where you need to establish yourself—don't worry about the other two. Only you know the best way to do that, so we'll have to leave it in your hands, though you won't have support from us or Shinra unless there's a dire emergency," Tseng added on to what Verdot was telling the woman. "You'll have to use the bank account attached to the ID we give you, but you'll be able to transfer some funds from your current account to your cover account—what you think would be reasonable for a fairly successful merc to have on hand, but not excessive. Especially since you were apparently a fairly well-known merc who up and vanished one day, and now you're suddenly reappearing."

"Eh?" Sirra blinked. "Okay, that's pretty detailed." She lifted her shoulders in a shrug, then commented, "I could easily transfer half my account over. Less, by a bit, 'cause I've been 'away' for so long. Here on the Plate, I spend like Helfire's gonna freeze over if I don't, but there's reasons for mercs to drop out for awhile, and if I hadn't been anywhere near Midgar, I wouldn't have used so much gil I'd have none left. And what do I do with that fucker if I find him?"

"Kill him," Verdot replied flatly. "At the first available moment when he's vulnerable or has let his guard down—the first opportunity you can guarantee your kill, do it. It's then when you'd also show your Turk ID to save your ass after assassinating a man in a public place if needed. That's part of why the time for this may go so long, because you probably won't be able to get close enough to him to kill him as soon as he turns up. Acting too soon and too rashly could ruin all our chances."

The woman gave an impressed whistle, then nodded. "Sounds good. When do I start? Tomorrow morning?"

"Most of your new ID will be ready by then, but you'll have to wait until the day after to head out. Getting out without being seen and being dropped off somewhere you can walk into Midgar from is a plan still in the works," the older man replied.

"You've got people flying out of the city all the time, Verdot," Sirra snorted. "Just send a Turk or two to look into something, and let 'em drop me off out in the middle of nowhere in the Wastes on their way. I'll do the rest."

Tseng and Verdot traded looks, then the younger Wutain answered, "Fair enough. You should start preparing what you can now." He then picked up a folder from the edge of the desk near him, checked it quickly, and offered it to her. "Start with that—the three addresses are in there."

"Right," she agreed, taking it and leaving the room.


	40. 39-Rinse and Repeat

Rinse and Repeat

Auryn stayed in his room willingly for the next five days, mostly because anytime Kariya left, and sometimes even when he was there, one of the Turks Ed was familiar with was with him. It became abrasive. Or, more accurately, it simply _was_ abrasive to him, and it just got worse each time he had to spend time with another of them. Rude was just the first—Illis, Ruluf, and Freyra had also been there during that time, and Tseng had even found time to visit him. And Rude had been there more than once by then, too. The major difference between Tseng and all four others was how the Wutain had managed to give him points of difference between his 'past selves' and his current one, while none of the others had done so yet.

It was causing him a great deal of stress he didn't want right then, regardless of how 'well' he was handling it (though, the fact that he was 'handling' it at all was pretty impressive). And when he realized the sixth day was going to be like the last five, he was torn between fury and fear. Right after breakfast, without telling Kariya, he tidied himself up, dressed in fresh clothes, and scaled the balcony to Doriss' apartment.

She was waiting for him, leaning on her doorjamb in her nightclothes and looking drowsy as she asked, "What are you doing _now_, Auryn?"

"Getting away from _them_ for awhile," he bit out in irritation. "I'd rather be wandering the building at large than have _another_ day where they're forcing all the same people who tortured me on me!"

"Have you told them so?" Doriss asked, watching him pace the room like a caged animal.

"They called it 'rehabilitation'! I'm not sure they get what the term means, because 'exposure' isn't supposed to immediately jump to _this_, it's _supposed_ to be _gradual_! Maybe _one_ of them would be here regularly, maybe all of them in turns with a day or two apart, not—_all the fucking time_!" he almost snarled.

With a sigh, the woman reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, then said, "Fine, go. There's no point in my trying to keep you here when you're like that. I'll get in touch with Doctor Crescent and see if she's aware of how they're handling things at the moment." He headed for the door, but as he grasped the knob, she added, "And Auryn, take care of yourself and at least _try_ to stay out of trouble."

"I never actually go looking for it, you know," he replied in a dry tone as he glanced back at her for a moment. "...But thanks, and I will." He then left, shutting the door behind him.

Like the first time he'd wanted to go out alone, he used the time to finish the exploring he hadn't been able to get to last time, then wondered where he could hide from the Guards for awhile. After all, he was fairly sure they'd be looking for him by then, having realized he wasn't in his room. There weren't a lot of people he knew, and fewer who he trusted, most of whom would return him to Kariya, anyway. The only person he could likely count on to just not bother was, oddly enough, Scarlet. With no other ideas at the moment, he sighed and headed to her floor, wondering if she'd even let him join her for awhile.

As it turned out, he didn't actually get a chance to find out, because not too long after he got out of the elevator, he turned a corner on her floor—and almost ran right into the SOLDIER from before, the one called Dante. And Dante was furious as soon as his eyes fell on Auryn.

"You!" the larger man just short of snarled as Auryn instinctively took an alarmed step back. "Thanks to _you_, I was put on probation and lost my right to go into town! It's time for some payback, and this time, you're _not_ getting away!"

The words had already set off warning bells in Auryn's mind, so he was prepared when Dante jumped at him to seize him—and that time, he immediately bolted, heading in the direction of Scarlet's office. Returning to the elevator would have been an option, if the SOLDIER hadn't already blocked his path to it by jumping in that direction, anticipating his attempt to run. Since the blond had been more ready to actually _try_ to escape, he had an extra head start that time, but against a SOLDIER, it wouldn't help unless he actually showed his own infusions, and he wasn't sure he wanted to do that just then.

And he was _also_ sure he didn't want to be caught by Dante this time (not that he had wanted to last time, but now, it was a much more insistent feeling). The first time, the man had wanted into his pants—against his will, but not actually with a desire to cause suffering. This time, Dante would _want_ to hurt him, and he wasn't naive enough to think the man would 'just' beat on him when he'd already shown a different kind of interest in him. Knowing that, he hoped the extra time he'd gained for himself this time by not being paralyzed with fear would be enough to escape.

It became irrelevant as he turned a corner halfway to Scarlet's office and found himself running into someone else—only this time, it obviously wasn't Scarlet, or even a woman.

With a gasp, he looked up in alarm, about to pull back—only to see a startled Reeve staring down at him in puzzlement. Then, the man's gaze moved up to the furious SOLDIER who was approaching quickly, and he actually seemed alarmed. In most cases, Reeve was something of a coward and hated conflict as much as, if not more than, Vincent did. Auryn knew he wouldn't have the guts to do what Scarlet had for him, and he didn't even _carry_ a weapon.

"I'm dealing with the intruder now," Dante scowled, reaching for Auryn.

Reeve turned suddenly, forcibly placing Auryn behind him and turning back to Dante to say, "There's no intruder here." The blond could practically feel the older man shaking with nerves. Well, that made two of them...

"The blond behind you, Sir," the SOLDIER bit out.

"He's not on one of the executive floors, so he doesn't qualify as an intruder," Reeve replied in a quiet, but even, tone. Auryn, huddled behind him and looking at the ground, had to blink and commend Reeve's sense of courage in this dimension.

"Holy _fuck_! What is it with you Execs not letting us do our jobs?" Dante nearly snarled.

Before the discussion could progress any further, a high-pitched child's shriek sounded, followed by a girl yelling, "Bad guy! Help!" at the top of her lungs. In pure shock, all three men looked in the direction of the yell, only to see...Shelke...In the Shinra Academy uniform...And carrying a computerized notebook against her chest with one arm while her other hand pointed at Dante. Her eyes were wide and scared, and she was standing down the opposite side of the crossing hall where Auryn had run into Reeve, putting her not-quite-behind Dante.

"What's all the yelling about?" another voice Auryn vaguely recognized asked from down the hall he and Dante had come from not long before. Looking in the speaker's direction, they all saw Angeal standing a couple yards down from the crossing hall, looking puzzled.

"Commander, Tuesti won't let me escort an intruder out," Dante growled.

"...Intruder? On a public floor?" Angeal asked, sounding oddly bemused. "Dante, unless you're assigned to floors sixty-one or above, no civilian _can have_ 'intruder' status."

"That's what I said," Reeve agreed. "And I'm pretty sure Scarlet had a similar issue with Dante not too long ago, too. She was a great deal more vulgar—and violent—about it, though."

"And, Auryn's not 'a civilian', anyway, because he lives with the Turks right here in the building!" Shelke added in a chirping tone, giving Dante a smug look.

"Shut the fuck up, you little bitch!" Dante snarled at her, clearly on the verge of losing all control given how many people were suddenly between him and Auryn. "There's no way some pathetic brat like _him_ would be with the Turks!"

"It's actually true, though," Angeal put in. "I haven't met Auryn personally yet, but Genesis has, and he can vouch for his living situation. And addressing a schoolgirl like that leaves a _great deal_ to be desired, Dante."

"With all due respect, _stay out of this_, Commander," the other SOLDIER bit out, drawing his sword to attack Angeal.

First, at the drawn sword, Angeal blinked—but a moment later, he'd drawn his own and knocked Dante flat (and right into unconsciousness), the other man's sword sliding down the hall past the Commander. After a moment of stillness, Angeal sighed, shook his head in exasperation, then looked up to smile at Shelke as he said, "Thank you for shouting and attracting my attention, Miss...?"

"Shelke Rui!" she grinned. "You know Genesis? He's my big brother! I can't wait to actually meet him now that we know about him!"

Angeal and Reeve gaped at her in shock for a moment as Auryn held a hand to his head and snorted, "Leave it to Shelke to break the system..."

"...What system?" Reeve asked in surprise.

"That's actually a good point, and I'm suddenly thankful we're the only ones here right now," Angeal chuckled wryly in amusement, eyes dancing. "I'll let Genesis know you're so eager to meet him, Miss Rui, but from now on, check with someone like your dad or your brother to see if it's _safe_ for you to publicly announce things like that, okay?"

"Huh?" she asked in surprise. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I should probably explain some of that to her," Reeve replied with a wry smile, having realized what Auryn and Angeal meant.

"Which is just as well, since I need to do something with Dante. Could you see to Auryn and Miss Rui, then, Reeve?" Angeal replied, reaching down to grasp one of Dante's arms and using it to haul the man bodily over his shoulder.

"Of course," Reeve agreed. Angeal nodded and walked away with Dante, so the executive faced Shelke and Auryn to say, "Let's go up to my office to talk, then. Lunch should be there by the time we get to it."

"Okay!" the girl grinned, trotting over to Auryn to take his hand and swing it between them. "Lead the way, Mr. Reeve!" When the man chuckled and took the lead, Shelke looked up at Auryn and said, "By the way, the stuff you taught me about Materia and those arrays has made magic _so easy_ for me! Thank you! I'm the best in my Materia class now!"

"That's good to know..." Auryn replied, feeling entirely bemused by this version of Shelke, who pretty much had no reservations about anything at all. It was helping him calm down much faster, though, having her there and so friendly.

Now that the immediate danger was over and he knew he wasn't going to be harmed, he found himself able to register the utter terror as well as the intense panic he had felt the moment he had registered who he'd run into. What most stood out in his mind right then was how, even with the fear, he had retained rationality. He had run away before, but he had simply run without any more thought than 'get away', essentially an animalistic variant of the 'fight or flight' survival instinct. Adding Shelke's soothing babble to his already calmer state of mind clearly meant his learned behaviors weren't getting a chance to reassert themselves like they might have in any other post-panic situation.

The girl chattered happily to him about her other classes as well, and some things like the new home they'd just moved in to, and how 'scary the explosion had been, even at the Shinra building.' He suddenly found himself very thankful the girls had started attending the Academy just then. Reeve just peered over his shoulder a few times at the two, looking amused by how Auryn was focused on her enough to apparently hear and give appropriate emotional responses, but was otherwise not paying attention to her, just letting her talk. Auryn had really never known such a talkative Shelke before, and for Reeve's part, he hadn't dealt with children enough to have any idea how a young, extroverted girl typically behaved.

When they reached his office, they sat to eat in chairs around Reeve's desk, Auryn mostly staring up at the ceiling when he wasn't eating as he focused on bringing himself the rest of the way out of the fear reaction Dante had sparked. Shelke had turned her attention to the device in her hands after eating, and Reeve was quietly going over a schematic while he finished his meal and waited for Auryn to finish his. It wasn't until the blond pushed away his plate that Reeve set aside his work and looked up at the two, peering between them curiously for a minute before focusing on Shelke.

"Miss Rui," he began to say.

"Shelke is fine, Mr. Reeve!" she replied with a grin, going back to work.

He chuckled. "Fine, Shelke, then. Has your family, your father in particular since Angeal mentioned him, ever talked to you about the 'Guards' and the 'Hounds'?"

She stopped what she was doing to look up at the man, pausing before saying, "He said a lot of the company is split between two groups called by those names, and it's worst in the Turks and SOLDIER. My dad's a Guard. Why does it matter?"

"Because right now, your brother is a Hound, and the Hounds answer to the President, who is very much the controlling sort," Reeve explained gently. "There are very immoral people working under him, and he encourages the very same behavior if it gets him the results he wants. Personal ties are weaknesses Hounds often have to do without, and it becoming widely known that you're Commander Rhapsodos' sister would mean you can be used against him. With the Guards, it's safer because they're protective of those in their care, but even then, there's still the chance you could be used against your father, as well. Announcing things like that without assurance from the others involved isn't a good idea."

"Oh," Shelke blinked, then nodded and went back to her work as she said, "Okay, then I guess I can just not say anything about him until we meet him properly and he says so."

"_Can_ you do that?" Auryn asked in a bemused tone.

"Shalua made me learn to just not say certain things, right since back when I was almost kidnapped," Shelke replied blandly. It was the least 'chirpy' he'd ever heard her voice in this dimension, making him blink in mild surprise.

"Why were you almost kidnapped?" Reeve asked in surprise.

"Some weird, SOLDIER-like guys came and grabbed me because they 'wanted to test my...abilities'," Shelke told him with a faint grin, quickly going back to her work.

"Abilities?" Reeve echoed.

Auryn snorted faintly and looked at Reeve to say, "I know you well enough to know you're a good person to know about them. She has SND. Strongly."

Both of the other two looked up to gap at him for a moment, then Reeve's brow furrowed and he asked, "Sorry, but _how_ do you know me? We've never met before."

Looking away from the man, Auryn wondered what he should say—only for Cait Sith (or one of the units, anyway) to jump onto the man's desk and put in, "That'd be the 'scenarios' the Turks talk about, an' this here's the one been runnin' them."

"Whoa!" Shelke gasped as she saw the bi-pedal, robotic cat, reaching a hand out towards it.

"Cait Sith," Auryn addressed the cat, feeling tired suddenly. "Somehow, I'm not surprised you know. Why did it take until now for you to tell Reeve, though?"

"Ah _did_ tell 'im!" Cait Sith replied in annoyance.

"That's more my fault for not paying more attention," Reeve threw in. "But—you knew me, or versions of me, in those scenarios, but you're fine dealing with me when apparently you have trouble with Turks and SOLDIERs both?"

"_You_ never tortured me in them," Auryn answered, his tone becoming pained as he recalled that fact.

What had always hurt more regarding Reeve in the various dimensions had been how the man had been too cowardly to even _try_ to help him, which had resulted more than once in the man standing by and watching him be tortured. The only thing which had made a difference then had been how he'd always looked so very pained, so sad, and had at least _tried_ to have his tormentors just kill him rather than drag it out. But, Reeve didn't have the force of personality to gain any results from those attempts, and it had come to nothing. In a few cases, his interference had produced worse results—longer torture—rather than better ones or none at all, which had just caused both of them a whole lot more suffering.

The only thing Auryn was absolutely sure of was that Reeve had never _intended_ him harm. That was why he trusted him if the man offered what help he could give, or swore he would do something. Seeing more courage from him in this dimension than any previous one but the first was actually mind-boggling in a way he wasn't usually mind-boggled in, but it was a definite point of difference Auryn could grasp as a major boon to the survival of this dimension. Like in the first dimension, Reeve had shown a degree of courage which had helped—a lot.

"...Hearing you say that makes me shudder to think what your lives in them must have been like," Reeve commented sadly. "How are you actually doing after what happened earlier with Dante if you have a history of suffering?"

Giving his hand a bit of an absent wave, the blond replied, "The quiet time while we were eating let me calm down, but I've been doing a lot better in that regard since Doctor Crescent did the first round of genetic therapy on me. I'm actually a little shocked by the marked improvement between the last time this happened, when Scarlet helped me, and this time. Why were you on Scarlet's floor, by the way?"

With a faint smile, the man lifted his shoulders in a shrug and answered, "She and I have been working together to adapt some of our respective machines to do the repair work the city needs now. The modifications to hers, which were originally made as weapons, not rescue workers or workhorses, are much more intensive than any of mine, so until we get the command tweaks right, we meet every morning and afternoon to work them out, especially on machines we know will be in heavy use that day or early the next."

Auryn looked away from him for a minute as he nodded—it was true, but Scarlet and Reeve working together was honestly shocking—wondering what else he should say, or if he should.

Shelke solved the problem by asking, "So why should Mr. Reeve have known about something I _know_ I was supposed to hide?"

"The President already _knows_ you have it—that's why those guys showed up to kidnap you," Auryn sighed faintly. "You don't have to hide it. The only thing keeping you safe right now is Lady Shinra, not whether or not people know about it. And Reeve should know about it because he has it in minor form and can help you learn to work with it. In the meantime, the only one I know who has ever successfully hacked Deepground's systems is Reeve, and that only after setting up layers of decoys and defenses before trying. After all, it's the President's private army, so it's well-guarded and kept secret because everything that goes on there is both highly illegal and extremely painful. I'm glad you didn't end up there this time."

The girl squeaked in alarm as Reeve leaned back in his seat with a thoughtful look before asking, "Aren't you usually more likely to hide things like that?"

Pausing for a moment to think back over his words, Auryn muttered a curse and sighed as he answered, "Apparently, Minerva wanted you to know that, so she pretty much forced me to say it..." He was really starting to hate her doing that, and he directed his annoyance at her—only to get back a chiding sensation. He knew she was telling him in her own way to stop hiding so much from these people. Again. But doing so wasn't something he could _just start doing_ without working his mind around it, first, and with her forcing it on him, he may never be able to.

"Who's Minerva?" the man asked in something like alarm.

"The over-arching sentience of the Lifestream—basically, the awareness of the Planet itself," Auryn answered, feeling even more tired than he had before. "I can only share that without having a panic attack because both the President and Hojo know now. Hojo was even willing to cover for me, mostly because replicating what was done to me is impossible, so I'm a 'useless experiment' to him."

"...So...That means she isn't a danger to us?" Reeve asked slowly.

Lips quirking in a small grin, Auryn replied, "Only to my sanity."

"I don't have to hide my SND? Then why is everyone making me?" Shelke asked suddenly, sounding truly puzzled.

"I think because they haven't actively realized the people it matters to already know," the blond answered her. "They mean well, but at this point, it won't make a difference to your situation, and the President will be more likely to leave you be if you're doing something to help the company, like helping Reeve. It won't stop Deepground from trying to grab you anyway, but you also won't be turned over to Hojo at the first available opportunity, either, regardless of Lady Shinra."

"Oh, okay," Shelke agreed, blinking then grinning and going back to her work.

"Are you saying you want me to hire a nine or ten-year-old?" Reeve asked in something like bemusement.

"I don't know if 'hiring' is the right term for it," Auryn told him dryly. "I never knew those terms, only that she worked with you, even on things like Cait Sith. Or variants on Cait Sith, as the case may be. And Shelke, don't start petting any of the Cait Siths or you'll turn them into hedonistic house pets."

She started giggling with obvious mirth as Reeve snorted and chuckled. "Ah, yes, that particular algorithm I couldn't quite make myself remove from their programming," the older man commented, running a hand through his short, black hair as he eyed the schematic he'd set down nearby. "But, I still have a lot of work to do today, and if you're calm enough to head back to your residence, you likely should do so. It was nice meeting you, regardless—and now I have a much better idea of what's going on. And Shelke, if you're agreeable, I would like to invite you back another day, hopefully when you won't have classes afterwards."

"Oh, yeah, just one left today!" Shelke grinned, checking the time. "I have half an hour. Tomorrow and the day after I both have completely free, no classes. Want my PHS number so you can send me a message when you want me to visit?"

"Sure," the man agreed, and the two quickly exchanged numbers.

Finally, Shelke left with Auryn, holding his hand again as he led her back to the elevators. He hit the numbers for both their floors, getting off at his first (well, on Doriss' floor above his own) as she waved good bye to him.


	41. 40-Collision Course

Collision Course

It didn't take Auryn long to get back to Doriss' apartment and scramble over the balcony back to his own—

Only to find Ansha waiting for him.

She sighed faintly as she saw him come in, then took his elbow and led him over to her apartment, where she handed him a book and pushed him down on the couch, then sat at her kitchen table to go back to her work. A quick look around the room showed many shelves for mechanics' tools and books on things like engineering and programming, but it was otherwise a practical space. The most frivolous things there were a few colored blankets and pillows on some of the furniture, and a large schematic serving as a 'picture' across much of the wall above the couch.

Well, it wasn't _quite_ solely based on mechanics—nearly everything there was the original Shinra stuff, but she had replaced the kitchen appliances and had quite the collection of cooking utensils. It easily out-did Kariya's collection, but he didn't know if it out-did Tseng's, since he hadn't been in the Wutain's apartment so far this time. Normally, though, other than some cooking utensils, Tseng made do with whatever the apartment came with, so for Ansha to have replaced the appliances, she did a lot of cooking. He wondered absently if she and Tifa would get along.

"Um..." he began after a minute.

"Doriss called Doctor Crescent, and she told me to keep you away from the others until she said otherwise," Ansha told him plainly without looking up from her work. "The fact that you left without word—again—to begin with told me not to question her decision. As such, you're staying here for awhile."

When he actively looked at the book he held, he realized it was the one he'd left open on the table in the main room before leaving shortly after breakfast, his page saved by a bookmark. "What if I need more things to read?"

"I have some books—theory mostly—on quantum physics there which you might like. If this is going to last longer than today, I'll find you some other things if you tell me what you like to read. And do me a favor and let me know when you're hungry, okay? I tend to get caught up in my work," she told him as she wrote a note on one of the papers in front of her.

"...Okay," he agreed, then settled on the couch to pick up where he'd left off reading just before breakfast. It was only a little past the lunch hour, but it felt like he'd been away for the better part of the day, leaving him feeling somewhat disoriented and amazed. The familiarity of a book (and the lack of his former torturers, no matter what his rational mind said) currently helped almost as much as Shelke's chatter had earlier.

As she'd asked, when he got hungry, he roused her from her work so she could make something for them both to eat—and he very quickly realized why she had the kitchen appliances she did. If she hadn't looked so different from Tifa, he'd have thought he was watching her at her bar and restaurant, something she'd always ended up having if the dimension had survived long enough for her to leave home at fifteen or sixteen. In dimensions where she hadn't left home, she either became bitter or didn't survive long enough to bother. And her survival or lack thereof always had a direct impact on Cloud.

Neither of whom he'd met yet in this dimension.

For some reason, the thought set him off-balance, and for more than one reason.

"Are you all right, Auryn?" Ansha asked over her shoulder as she saw him sway and grip the edge of the table to stay upright. "You should sit."

He did, then sighed and replied, "Two kids I haven't thought about since I've been here just suddenly came to mind. You and your cooking reminded me of the girl, and with her always came the boy...and if they don't get out of Nibelheim soon, the results won't be good."

"Why is that?" she asked in a quiet tone, still facing the stove and her work on the meal.

He had to admit his words were somewhat cryptic to someone who didn't have the history behind it, so pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to will himself to give Ansha some of the details. Finally, he explained, "The girl, Tifa Lockhart, is the Mayor's daughter. Her mother died when she was very young, and she was basically 'the popular girl' in town...Everyone knew her and wanted something from her, but she only had one actual real friend. Unfortunately, their families don't get along, and Cloud Strife was the town's scapegoat. The combination isn't a good one, and neither of them has anywhere to go to move forward if they stay there.

"Tifa wants to run a bar and restaurant—that's always been a dream of hers—but there's only space for the Inn there, not for another restaurant, so...She can't. All she really is there is a decoration. And Cloud has no future there at all, being their scapegoat. He wants to try for SOLDIER, but without genetic therapy, he won't be accepted into the program, even if he tries out and has good results otherwise. The Turks would be an option—he _did_ end up with you a number of times—or he could become a weapons engineer. Any of those would satisfy him, all of which he can't do in Nibelheim."

"A weapons engineer?" Ansha asked in surprise. "Someone from a place out in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yeah, shock of shocks. In most cases, he only found out about it when he was...I guess twenty-two-ish? Then, he started playing around, made his motorcycle, and made a specialized weapon for himself. Usually, that was a sword which was actually seven different blades which would fit together to make a buster sword, but sometimes, he made a different weapon, ranging from a gun or rifle to daggers to other kinds of swords to fist weapons. In a few, he made replacement weapons for his friends, too. All he needs is a place to start, and some minor instruction."

"Hmm..." Ansha murmured as she kept working, though it was clear she was close to done with the cooking. It took her until she was putting the food on plates, about five minutes later, to say, "I'll let Vincent and Lady Shinra know what you've said. If anyone can do anything for them, it will be those two, since they'll know best how to validate bringing two unknown and unremarkable kids here."

"Okay...Thank you," Auryn said, with feeling. He was sure they would find a way to retrieve Tifa and Cloud at some point, probably in the near future.

Ansha just gave him a smile and said, "You're welcome. Eat," as she was placing the plates on the table.

He took a bite absently—then froze and stared at the woman in amazement, swallowed, and told her, "You're really a good cook. Tifa would love it if you taught her some of your tricks and recipes."

She chuckled at that and said, "I had already gathered that. And because not many of the people I see on a daily basis enjoy cooking, I'm fairly certain I would enjoy her company, as well. Once she and Cloud are here, I'll be testing the thought."

Auryn nodded, then turned back to his meal, and soon after, he returned to the couch to read. It was clear a few hours later that he may as well get comfy on the couch, since Lucrecia hadn't gotten in touch with them by nearly eleven in the evening. Not long after Ansha had found him a pillow and blanket, he was fast asleep.

FoWD

Genesis was _pissed_.

It had been a bad day of bad days, the first and most annoying part the very first incident, which had already come after a remarkably short night the previous night.

Some of the recent SOLDIER and Turk Cadets had been practicing with Materia—and had managed to completely blow out their usual training room in some sort of competition. Said competition had been sparked by someone having recently seen a red haired girl apparently create a flower out of ice, she had manipulated it so well. As much as the rumor, if it was true, warmed him to Shelke (seriously, what _other_ red haired girl would have any potential of doing something like that?), it had also created a shit-load of work for him and Lakis of the Turks to clean up, and for that, he wasn't happy. At all. Neither was Lakis. That no one had died had been something of a miracle, because they'd been using Fire Materia, but it hadn't mitigated the fact that nearly everyone there had been so badly injured they had needed infirmary care regardless.

When he'd finished as much as he could, he'd intended to meet Angeal for lunch, only to find out from one of the other SOLDIERs that he was handling a disciplinary issue, and anyone else he normally ate with were out on missions. Or dead. He'd have really liked Kunzel's help with the training incident earlier, honestly, but with the plasma bomb and clean-up, and Kunzel's death to save a child, well...That was impossible. The reminder wasn't pleasant, even though he could respect the man's reason for death. It would be a lonely lunch, made more lonely by the reminder of the losses.

Except, he never got a chance to even collect his lunch before being sent an urgent mission request, and no, he couldn't go later, or there would be nothing left to save. So, he'd gone off to deal with mutated monsters from the Mako fountain formerly at the remains of Reactor 5, before they wiped out a large portion of the Sector 6 Slums, stopping them only shortly before they made their way into Wall Market directly. That was all well enough—it was pretty typical, other than how far into the ruined Sector they had penetrated—only to find them exploding as he killed them, splattering him with their guts and a greenish substance he assumed was a mutated form of Mako. His own Mako enhancements countered it when it touched his skin (though that didn't stop it from burning painfully at first), but it quickly became clear his clothing had no such benefit, and the substance had turned acidic. No wonder it burned.

So, starving, in pain, and with clothing riddled with holes in some very unfortunate places, he made his way back topside. Another mission request came in on his way back to Headquarters, which made him sigh—he wasn't even far from the location. What was with monsters on the Upper Plate, though? When he got to the place, he realized the creatures had either broken out of or been released from a hidden, illegal lab. To start, he dealt with the damned lab and everything still there, then turned to try tracking down the escapees—only to be caught in an explosion. It was nowhere near as big as the one which had brought down Plate Sectors, but it still had the force to damage him...and drop him into the sewers.

The fall had knocked him unconscious for some time—a few hours, if his PHS was still reading the right time. Since that was the last thing he saw on it before it lost power from the damage it had taken in his pocket, he realized it was around suppertime by then, and he obviously wouldn't be eating until he'd first un-buried himself from the building debris and gotten himself out of the sewer. Which, of course, had taken a few more (several more?) hours. And help from some Infantry and SOLDIERs who had been sent to the site of the new explosion. The only actual benefit from that had been that he'd been able to get a change of uniform, minus his favorite red leather coat (which was yet another piss off), when the SOLDIERs saw how damaged his clothes were—and, more importantly, how much they _stank_.

Finally, _finally_, he was able to go back to the Shinra building, and headed for the Cafeteria—only to find it 'closed for maintenance'. He then headed for one of the VR training rooms so he could vent, only to pass one of the storage rooms on that floor, and he stopped as he heard someone say in a bitter tone, "That blond kid got away again, only this time, it was Tuesti instead of Scarlet, and some red haired _brat just had_ to get involved, and Angeal even _helped_ them. That damned 'honor-bound' guy should go take a hike somewhere far away and stop interfering in my getting a good fuck, you know?"

He blinked, putting pieces together as the other SOLDIER in the room commented, "Then again, 'getting a good fuck' and 'rape' aren't really comparable...I completely get the 'good fuck' part, but really...This is _twice_ you've described a near-rape to me like you had some _right_ to do it, Dante. I'm _really_ starting to wonder about your morals. Or your sanity. Go find a partner who's _actually_ willing."

"He _was_!" Dante replied in annoyance. "He just wanted a good chase, first."

"Holy Shiva..." the other man sighed. "I'm leaving if you're going to be _this_ willfully delusional. Take my advice and leave that blond kid alone if you see him again, though. He's not worth the effort, regardless of what you want to believe he wants." The door to the room opened fully and one of the Firsts—a Guard—stepped out, then stopped to stare at Genesis.

"Get back here—" Dante began angrily, heading after the first—only to stop as he met Genesis' furious gaze.

"Oh, so you're the one who hurt Auryn that day. And apparently again very recently," Genesis told him in a deceptively calm voice. "I was just wanting to vent. I think I found a fantastic target to vent on. Let's find a fortified room to spar in."

"Fuck off and mind your own business, _Commander_," Dante spat.

Genesis' brow rose. "Okay, then. We do this the hard way. Let me be very clear on something, first. We _don't_ need people with _your_ complete lack of honor in our ranks. You're not just a liability to Shinra, but what you're doing to people is just _wrong_. And if you _ever actually_ thought Auryn _wanted_ what you were trying to do to him, you _really are_ delusional, so badly we can't count on any of your reports on _anything_ being accurate."

"And what are you going to do? Give me more cleaning duty hours?" the other SOLDIER spat out derisively.

The red haired man's lips curved in a malicious smirk which made both SOLDIERs tremble with fear. "Oh, no, not at all. If you're so delusional, I'm justified in putting you down like a rabid dog. I don't have _nearly_ Angeal's patience or good will, and I've had a _very bad day_, so finding out your thoughts on the matter of Auryn—I'm not inclined to hold back. If you had been agreeable to sparring, I may actually have held back, let you take your lumps and get on with life, but you obviously have no intention of leaving him alone, so...That could too easily transfer to others, if it hasn't already, and don't get me started on just how disgusted with you I am right now. I don't have nearly Angeal's ridiculous level of honor, but your lack of that same honor...Well..." He paused and glanced at the other man, asking, "Riven, is it?"

"Yes, Sir," the SOLDIER answered. He stiffened at the sudden address.

"Thank you for at least _trying_ to talk sense into this idiot, but next time your efforts don't work, alert your superiors to the problem _before_ it gets this bad," Genesis told him bluntly. "Get out of here."

"Yes, Sir," Riven replied faintly, then turned and bolted.

"Hey, wait for me!" Dante shouted in alarm, turning to follow the other man.

A moment later, he was surrounded by a wall of fire, _very strong fire_, and was forced to stop, even as Genesis said, "Oh, no, _you're_ not going _anywhere_." That malicious smirk split his face again, even as a terrified Dante spun back to face him, sword drawn.

The clash made the building rock.

FoWD

Auryn woke suddenly, both from the abrupt shaking of the building and from the very strong sense of massive amounts of energy being used nearby, less than ten floors below him.

The only person he knew who could harness so much energy on a moment's notice was Genesis, so he got up to look for Ansha—who wasn't there. After a few moments, he realized she must have the 'night shift' in the Turks' monitoring agreement. The problem he was faced with right then was the realization that the shaking and the energy flow _wasn't dissipating_, even over a minute later, and that was very, very bad. There had only been a few times when Genesis had completely lost control of himself and effectively gone off the deep end, but when he did—if it went too long, the power would tear down Midgar itself.

He had never found out those few times what had caused Genesis enough upheaval to lose himself in such a way, but if he reached a point of 'burnout', Midgar was doomed, and he doubted anyone other than maybe himself, Scarlet (which was unique to this dimension—in any other one, he'd have said Sephiroth), or Angeal would be able to pull the man out of it. And that wasn't a guarantee.

After another moment of hesitation, he ran from the apartment and headed for the source of the energy he could feel, quickly making his way to the main SOLDIER training floor, and to one of the halls there. A fairly large section of the hall wall leading into the rooms at the outside of the building had been utterly crushed, along with a storage room and the outer wall of the building. Somehow, the floor was intact, but unstable, and the walls opposite the destroyed ones were crumbling. A large number of people had gathered there—SOLDIERs, Turks, other personnel—all staring at what they were seeing.

At the epicenter of the destruction, Genesis was flaring with fire, his eyes glowing white and one wing of energy and one physical wing streaked with black and white unfurled behind him. Not far away, in part of the fallen section of wall, was a charred corpse which was well beyond recognition. No one could approach the seemingly frozen man, because his power kept sending out waves, burning and tearing ones which shoved people back and hurt them. Even Lakis' Shield didn't last long against the energy surging against it, and the only thing keeping all of the gathered people safe was that the wave stopped at the edge of the established damage zone. By the cuts and burns Auryn could see on Angeal's body, across the zone from him, even Angeal and Scarlet wouldn't be able to safely approach.

"Hojo, stop him!" the President's familiar voice yelled suddenly.

"I can't!" Hojo replied with a sneer. "Some _fool_ didn't let him eat when he needed to eat, and that's only _one_ of the obvious problems with this!" There was a silence as Auryn faced the voices, and saw that Hojo had suddenly seen him. Their eyes met and Hojo pushed through the crowd to him, then said, "Subject E, why are you here?"

"I felt the energy he was giving off," Auryn replied. "And if he reaches a point of 'burnout', the whole city will crumble under his own self-destruction."

"How close is he?" the scientist asked sharply, gaze moving to the SOLDIER.

"...We have less than ten minutes," Auryn sighed.

"_Can you stop him_?" the man asked harshly.

"...Probably...But it's not going to be...with something easily explained," the blond answered quietly, also looking at the red haired man.

"Do it. I'll do what I can to cover up anything you do—you're one of my experiments, after all," Hojo replied evenly.

Drawing in a breath to steady himself, Auryn gave a nod and turned to face Genesis.

"Auryn!" Lady Shinra called in alarm, making him glance back at her. "Get back! It's dangerous!" Vincent was with her, and about to start forward.

Turning towards Genesis again, Auryn pushed the rest of the way through the crowd and walked forward as the next wave rose. Many pairs of eyes widened as people cried out in alarm, but he lifted his hand and focused on the arrays he needed for a mixture of gravity control (closer to his created Anti-Gravity Materia, rather than to the Gravity Materia) and the Cleanse arrays. The glowing arrays appeared around his wrist, and the wave of power broke around him without touching him. As such, he moved forward steadily, that array active the whole time, until he reached Genesis, where the array also shoved the fire away from the man's body.

His other hand, he pressed to Genesis' chest and focused on the arrays for Cleanse alone, but with modifications based on how he'd felt and seen his own energies being restored by Ifalna and how Minerva had shown him how to cleanse his own energy. The arrays he needed appeared around that wrist while he maintained the other one to protect himself, and the energy surged through Genesis' body, causing it to light up, first in vivid, brilliant red, but then the red began shifting, turning white-green. When it became fully white-green—

Everything went still and silent for a long moment—

Then Genesis collapsed into unconsciousness, slumping over onto Auryn, and the blond collapsed under the man's weight, too exhausted from the amount of energy he'd just used to be able to stop Genesis' fall. For several long moments, the two just laid there, no one daring to approach them, and the younger of the two was just thankful the shaking had stopped. A crunch of a foot in debris nearby made the blond open his eyes, seeing Hojo and Lucretia leaning over them, Lucretia's gaze worried and Hojo's clearly assessing something.

"Well, the first thing we need to do is make sure they both can rest and eat. That will go a long way towards restoring Subje—" Hojo began, then paused when the woman shot him a disgusted look, and switched to saying, "The Commander's stability and sanity. And S—Auryn just needs to rest. He can be returned to his residence, but the Commander will need care in the Hospital here. And I daresay you won't want to put off a discussion with him for much longer about his change in status. In the mean time, does anyone happen to know who he killed, as I presume that was what set him off?"

A man cleared his throat as he stepped past Angeal, and Auryn recognized him as Lazard. He was followed by another, frightened-looking First. The older blond man said, "Apparently the trigger was in Dante's behavior. According to Riven, he had literally become dangerously delusional, and Genesis had reached his limit at the end of a very bad day. I may have unintentionally been responsible for his missed meals, though if things had gone according to plan, he would have only missed lunch. And if some foolish Cadets hadn't done damage to the Cafeteria kitchens with a prank, putting them out of service by the time the Commander was finally able to return here."

"Pass his most recent missions and the data you have on them to me," Hojo ordered. "I'll find out the rest from him when he wakes."

Vincent got to the pair just then, carefully shuffling Genesis, who still had his streaked wing showing, so he could retrieve Auryn, and it only took a moment for Angeal to join them to lift Genesis and look at Hojo to say, "Lead the way."

The man walked away, followed by Angeal, as Vincent lifted Auryn and turned to Lucretia, who returned to Lady Shinra's side. It was only then when Auryn realized half the people there were in sleepwear, and most of the rest weren't fully done up as they were usually. Scarlet and the President were both still in their full, usual garb—they also showed signs of having worked late. Vincent was fully in his uniform as well, but Lady Shinra was just in pants and her blouse, not her suit jacket. Reeve wasn't there, but it was likely he was still in the building, and likely working late. A few Turks and SOLDIERs were in their full uniforms, and it seemed Lazard was dressed normally. Everyone else was less than fully dressed.

And then the full impact of the situation—tension, fear, terror (about several points, from the power he'd just shown to what had nearly happened to Genesis, and to Midgar), and guilt for having been the trigger (it was Dante, so _of course_ he was)—hit him all at once, and everything went dark.


	42. 41-Terrible Truth

Terrible Truth

It was strange to be working as a merc again, Sirra mused to herself as she made her way to the bar on her list which was in the Sector 3 Slums. She still had the knack for it—rather, her ability had actually _improved_ since she'd joined the Turks. After her first try at the bounty office had netted her a major windfall, her reason for having dropped out of the line of work for so long became self-explanatory—intensive personal training. The first night, she'd just crashed at one of the merc residences around the city, the one which was in Wall Market. At some point (like when she left the bar that night), she would likely stay over at the one in Sector 2, since it was closer than Wall Market's. As she was avoiding the Upper Plate currently, the ones in Sectors 4 and 8 were out completely, and she didn't actually mind—those were a long way to travel.

Rather than wearing her Turk uniform (or as much of it as she ever actually wore, since she normally only wore the pants and jacket), she was in her old, familiar, blue jean shorts, long, white tank top tucked into her shorts, usual gun hip-holsters, dark leather, fingerless kid gloves, and sturdy, dark leather hiking boots. It was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, comfortable and strange at once, puzzling her. Had it really been so long since she'd dressed casually? Thinking back, she realized it had been, largely thanks to the Turks' completely random work and first responder status...

Of course, as much as she kept calling herself Sirra in her head, currently, she was back to her merc name, Ratri Basir. And someone she'd worked with before, a former fellow merc, had already seen her and they'd had a great reunion over in Sector 7—he'd even oh, so conveniently suggested the 7th Heaven bar _to_ her. It had been the best and least suspicious 'in' she could have gotten there, and she was sure word about her return to the merc world was spreading.

Now, her excuse to go to the bar in Sector 3 was because the same friend she'd gone to 7th Heaven with had suggested it when she'd asked about other good bars in Midgar. And he _had_ suggested to her the very same ones, both of them, for her mission, amongst several others. The one she was headed to in Sector 3 was called Nightcap, and the last one she'd have to visit was in Sector 4, called The Drifter's Lounge. She was pretty sure it was no 'lounge' (since being a Turk, she'd intimately learned the difference), but it had been that very bar ever since—well over a hundred years before Midgar had been built. It was _really_ an old relic of the towns before Midgar, so it had actual potential to surprise her.

And she was more than ready to start drinking, since she'd finished up three bounties that day and was tired. She was also very glad she didn't have to curb her drinking tendencies on the job until she finished with this one, though, because it was likely she'd _really_ need the drinks before getting through it.

Stepping into Nightcap caused her to pause at the thick smell of smoke in the air and the sudden blurriness of her eyes. A moment later, she realized with a faint sigh that the blurriness was being caused by all the smoke in the air, not her eyes. And that was with the windows _open_. She was actually tempted to leave for a moment, but had to admit she'd gotten spoiled, drinking at well-kept bars up on the Plate. There was really no reason for her to leave, since another look around showed her the place was clean, there were just a lot of regulars who smoked. She even did on occasion.

Rather, she made her way to one of the free seats in the room, at a small table in the back corner, kicked her feet up as she settled with her back to the wall and her eyes closed, and just _waited_. She knew the game. Her senses were far more honed now than they had been before she'd gone Turk, and it was easy to tell where people were, even what they were saying if they were close enough to her. The seat she'd chosen 'belonged' to a regular, and someone would either come to claim it or to warn her away. The fact was that, when a person went without sight for an extended time, their other senses began to compensate by going into overdrive, so she could hear a lot more with her eyes closed than with them open.

Ah, there it was, the sound of someone approaching. By the direction, maybe even the barkeeper. Cracking open an eye, she saw she was right and the barkeeper was the one heading her way, gaze seemingly just tired. When he got to her table he said quietly, "You should probably not stay sitting there. I don't blame you since you're new, but Matty and his two thugs are nasty pieces of work who'll sooner kill you, or rape you, than just give you a warning and let you walk away."

She opened both eyes to look at the man, brow furrowed slightly as she wondered why the name sounded familiar. "Hey, barkeep, I appreciate the warning, but I'm used to killing shit like Dark Dragons and the other shit at the Northern Crater. I don't think any fucking city-bred bully boy is gonna be able to lay a hand on me."

He blinked, then sighed faintly. "Fine, but you can't just sit here all night without buying something. Anything else—"

"Is my lookout, I know," she replied with a smirking grin, then reached into her pocket to flip through the wad of cash she'd gotten from her bounties that day. Pulling out a few bills, she held them out to him and said, "Start me with a sample of your house special if you have one. Then, from the most expensive drink to the least expensive, when I finish my last drink, bring me another until that runs out or I decide to leave."

The man gaped at the amount of money she'd just handed him, looking faint. "You probably won't be able to walk by then..." he told her, and it was clear he was still in shock at the situation.

Shoving the rest of the bills back into her pocket, her smirk widened as she replied, "I'm part Wutain, so even chemical knockouts are lucky to barely touch me."

Sighing, he agreed, "One house special coming up. I call it Counting Sheep."

She had to snicker at the name as she waved him away agreeably, still pondering why the name Matty sounded familiar. Soon after, she had the first drink she'd asked for, and examined it curiously for a minute. Like the Seventh Heaven, it looked like a chemical knockout, but it was mostly midnight blue with—silvery, fluffy bits in it? Looking closer, she realized they were cloud-shaped candy bits, and had to grin in spite of herself. It was actually cute. Giving it a quick stir, she downed a gulp, giving a shudder of pleasure as she tasted the intensely sweet, bitter alcohol almost burn down her throat. The fucking shit was practically corrosive! But it was damned good, too.

Leaning back and closing her eyes again, she was quite happy to just make herself comfortable there for some hours.

When she was on her third drink, a sneering voice nearby said, "Hey bitch, you're in my seat. That means I get ta fuck you senseless for the night." Two others laughed at the words, though most of the other patrons nearby fell silent, turning to watch with wary gazes.

She didn't even open her eyes when she seized his wrist—the hand which was reaching for her breast wasn't going to make it. Ever. She squeezed it suddenly, bending it harshly as she did, and a loud 'crack' echoed through the room. It was followed moments later by the man's scream of pain, making her sneer at the noise—the guy was one of those Shiva-be-damned soprano screechers. Usually, that meant it was a lot like nails on a chalkboard.

With a faint sigh, she let him go and opened her eyes to look at them, saying, "Look, fuckwads, I'm not in the mood after finishing _three_ fucking bounties today. Unless you want to leave here permanently maimed and probably without your over-eager kiddy dicks, get the fuck outta my face." Then, as real fear crossed their faces, she remembered why the name was familiar—they had a bounty out on them. She'd seen the poster at the office earlier. As such, she added with a smirk, "Unless, of course, you'd like me to aim for _four_ bounties today...? I can do that, too..."

The three men went pale and bolted, so she snickered and settled back into her seat to take another sip from her drink. It wasn't nearly a big enough sip, making her glare at the empty glass for a moment—until the barkeeper put another on the table in front of her, his gaze filled with awe and respect. She gave a nod of thanks and downed half the drink in one gulp as he collected the empty glass.

"Exactly...who are you?" he asked slowly after a moment.

She cocked a brow and replied, "Ratri Basir."

"...Hold on—the same legendary 'Dragon Hunter' Ratri who was so famous about ten years ago, and who vanished suddenly?" he asked, jaw falling open as several other pairs of eyes went wide.

"The same," she smirked in amusement. Actually, she was a little surprised, too, because she hadn't realized she'd been so popular as to be so well-known.

"What about the Dragon tattoo?" he asked almost warily and almost eagerly. She turned in her seat to let him see what he could of her arm and shoulder under her tank top—clearly part of a Dragon. "Okay...So where did you disappear to for all this time?"

"Personal training," she replied. "I got caught up in some fricken mess with the Turks and some really strange monsters, and realized I needed to be even fucking stronger than I already was. So, I ditched for awhile to find those kinds of places to train. Just got back from that and figured I'd better start somewhere with a decent payoff—here. Been awhile. And assholes aside, it's good to be back."

The barkeeper actually smiled at that. "Thanks for getting them out of my bar. I don't mind if you want to come around again."

"Thanks!" she grinned, picking up her drink again to take another sip. The man headed back to the bar to keep working, and gradually, the sound level picked up again. With her body relaxed and her eyes closed again, she could hear them eagerly whispering about her presence and her return to society. It was almost enough to make her laugh.

Almost.

She'd have blown her cover if she had, but it didn't stop her from mentally doing a jig and laughing her head off.

FoWD

Lady Shinra had to blink as Freyra ran into her office, calling, "Vincent, you have to come quickly! The floor broke and half the Hounds and the Guards are fighting!"

A strange expression came to the man's face as he asked, "_What_ floor broke, and what fight? Wait, first take a few breaths to calm down, then try explaining."

It was morning by then, and neither Auryn nor Genesis had woken yet, so Lady Shinra had nothing in particular to do just then. She hadn't expected a situation like this to come up, however, and wanted clarification from the frantic near-Rookie as much as Vincent did. Well, the reality of her rank was higher than 'Rookie', but for the amount of experience she had, she—and all their new hires—may as well have still been one. Whatever Heidegger had to say on the matter, no one learned all the ropes in the Turks in only a month, or even in two.

By then, Freyra had taken a few deep breaths, eyes closed, and when she opened them, she was much less frantic. So, she explained, "Verde and Balto met on the floor Genesis destroyed last night while collecting data. Other Turks were nearby, all of them for their own investigations, but something set those two off, and they began fighting. The others quickly began joining in. I hadn't had anything else to do this morning, so I was training in a room nearby and heard the shouting, so I ran to see what was going on, and there were about half the Turks from both factions fighting. The floor gave out under them, and some of them are stuck in the rubble while the rest are still fighting!"

Vincent reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, eyes closed for a moment, then turned to look at her, saying, "I can't leave this, Lady Shinra."

She nodded. "I know. Go on, then. The sooner you sort it out, the sooner you can get back."

"Come on, Freyra," he said, and the two left quickly.

It was normally okay for Vincent to leave for awhile, especially randomly, since Verdot had been either avoiding times when Vincent wasn't there or hadn't been able to plan for a random event. Of course, if he _had_, it likely wouldn't have been a _random_ event any longer to begin with. However, about a minute after Vincent left, just as she signed her name on a document for Gast to work with, the door opened and Verdot stood there. His gaze was shadowed, but his gun was in his hand, a hand he lifted to aim the weapon at her.

Janelle had always known it—eventually it would happen and Verdot would get his chance. Sitting in her seat at her desk left her very little recourse, very little of either ability or time to move, let alone fight back. She could only still damage an enemy either with a gun—something she didn't have time to reach for right then, as it was in a drawer to the side of where she sat, and opening it would take too long—or for someone to come into range of her cane. Verdot wasn't foolish enough to give her the time or the opportunity.

As the gunshot went off, she closed her eyes in resignation—only to realize nothing had happened.

Opening her eyes again, she found Verdot with the gun still up, eyes wide in shock as he softly asked, "You have a Shield Materia?"

Blinking, she shook her head. "No, I don't."

"But—that barrier..." he answered, shaking his head like he was trying to clear it.

She wondered if she would regret asking, but she still felt like she had to. "What barrier?"

In response, the man shot at her again, but with her eyes open, she could clearly see the protective dome which shone around her for a moment as the bullet hit it, then saw the dome vanish as the flattened bullet fell to the floor.

"...Oh, my..." she stared in amazement, wondering who, or what, was protecting her right now.

"Is that Chaos'...?" Verdot asked slowly.

"No, not even close," she answered, and Verdot stalked forward to punch the barrier. His fist was halted on it much like it would be against a wall, and she suddenly felt very bemused.

"Fuck!" Verdot suddenly swore. "The _one_ time I could actually—_this_ happens!" He then brought his gun up and completely unloaded it into the barrier, then gave a frustrated snarl and shot several fire spells at it in quick succession.

It wasn't dropping. Or if it was, it was being put back up so quickly there was no hole there for Verdot to get an attack through. Janelle once again found herself feeling bemused by the situation, sitting calmly as she eyed the shield again. It was quite similar to Shield, but there was a tell about it which made her think it wasn't the spell, it was something else. She'd have thought of the Enemy Skill Big Guard, except that it didn't have actual shielding, only damage reduction. This was more like a mix of the two, leading her to think it was something else.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a laugh as something small and aqua-colored landed on Verdot's head and said, "_You're a funny man!_" He hollered with something like fear or panic, trying to snatch the creature—only to find it repeatedly out of his reach, then back on his head, then out of his reach...In a way, she wasn't surprised, since it had wing-like ears, which was normally a sign of some sort of flight ability. It was also decidedly cute, and there was a red gem shining on its forehead. As it apparently 'played' with Verdot, it was laughing happily.

Finally, as Janelle watched in amazement, Verdot went limp with exhaustion and resignation, falling into one of her visitor chairs and closing his eyes as the creature settled on his head. "_All done?_" it asked after a moment of silence.

Verdot didn't answer, but Janelle recognized his pouting for what it was, so she asked the creature, "Little one, are you the one who protected me just now?"

It looked up at her and grinned as it agreed, "_Yup! That's the most fun I've had in years! I want to play some more!_"

"Play..." Verdot sighed in a defeated tone. "That was just _playing_?"

"_Of course,_" the creature replied, leaning forward to stick its face in Verdot's. "_I _am_ Carbuncle, the shielding Summon, after all!_"

Both Janelle and Verdot stared at the creature in amazement before Janelle found her voice and asked faintly, "Why are you _here_, and protecting _me_, Carbuncle?"

"_Because Ed asked me to,_" Carbuncle answered, lifting its head to look at her. "_You do lots of really fun stuff! I thought it might be boring just sitting here and waiting for someone to maybe attack you, but it wasn't. And I'm shocked he knew you'd need me so long before it happened._"

"...Who is 'Ed'?" Lady Shinra asked, not familiar with the name.

For a moment, Carbuncle was silent, then stood on its hind feet on Verdot's head to face her and say, "_I forgot, he's using a different name. I think you keep calling him Auryn._"

"...Auryn has Summons which are completely unknown?" Verdot gaped in surprise.

"_Not really,_" Carbuncle answered, sounding amused. "_We're known, just not to people who are only looking for ways to kill people, so they throw away protective things. But I'm a special Carbuncle because he keeps calling me back every time. And I was an Eidolon before that—a free-roaming Summon, with no Materia or Summoner._"

"...He...keeps calling you back?" Janelle blinked.

"_Into every new dimension he gets dropped in,_" Carbuncle readily clarified.

"Dimension?" both humans asked in surprise.

"_Dimension,_" Carbuncle reiterated. "_Other versions of this world, where someone made a different decision which changed the outcome or the path it would take. Some things are universal, though. Like Deepground._"

Janelle leaned back in her seat, eyes wide as she asked, "Are you saying you know Deepground is very real? Right here, and right now?"

"_Yup._" A long silence followed the single word, until Carbuncle finally added, "_I really think the two of you need to talk, though._"

"Why?" Verdot asked in annoyance.

"_Because you don't want to kill her, but you're trying to force yourself to do so. Just like you have in every other dimension. Except that, in every previous one, you succeeded, and had to deal with the pain of doing so,_" Carbuncle replied. It was strangely wise for something the humans would have called a little girl's toy or pet.

"...I never _did_ know what turned you against me, Verdot," Janelle said quietly. It was very true, too. She had never known why he had eventually turned on her in her husband's favor.

"Even though I'm one of the ones you never helped?" the man replied bitterly.

"In what way?" She was genuinely confused by his words, because she _had_ helped him, a lot, and was _still_ helping him when she feasibly could.

For a few long moments, Verdot was silent, but finally, he said, "When I asked you for help to retrieve my family heirloom, you told me it wasn't possible. I just wanted closure...You didn't give me that, but the President _did_."

Her eyes widened in horror as she asked, "Are you telling me your 'closure' was worth the lives of _over three hundred villagers_?"

For a moment, there was no reaction from him, but then his eyes went to hers and he gasped, "What? No! He told me no one died, he just sent a few people at night to take it out of the statue!"

They both stared at one another for a very long time, until Janelle slowly pushed herself to her feet and said softly, "I believe we have a trip to the archives to attend to, so we can find that file and find out the truth."

"...What's _your_ side of it?" Verdot asked as he also rose shakily, then fell in with her as she made her way to the door. Carbuncle stayed on his head for a moment before jumping over to Lady Shinra's shoulder.

"You and your family weren't on the grounds or the manor for some time, but monsters wouldn't get close to it. A nearby village thought all of you were dead, so they went to investigate what they could salvage, or especially what kept the monsters away. They were...refusing to cooperate with my husband, but they had no idea the monsters may have been his. The only thing they could surmise was keeping the monsters away was a red stone they found under the floorboards of the ruined manor, so took it back to their town and fixed it to the statue in the square. The monster attacks stopped, only because the stone was keeping them back—that was around the time I realized the monsters were being created in the Shinra Labs."

The woman paused and sighed faintly. "I couldn't just tell them so, but I started working on a combat team both capable and willing to protect them in place of the stone, so I'd be able to ask for it back. That was why I had asked you to wait. A few weeks later, however, the village had been completely wiped out by what I had thought were bandits...There was nothing left, not even the stone. When I got that report, I sent people to find out what they could, and there was nothing for them to track. I had to tell you it wasn't possible to retrieve it."

"...You...told me that..._before_ the President approached me...offering to send his own people to retrieve it..." Verdot replied tightly. Her expression was pinched.

It didn't take them long to reach the oldest of their archives rooms, where they quickly began going through files. At one point, her PHS rang, and she answered it with, "Don't worry, I'm safe, Vincent. I'll be back when I've resolved this." She then hung up and turned it off, going back to her work.

In the end, it was Verdot who found the file, and who read it first before turning it over to Janelle.

She read it, lips pursed, and closed her eyes when she'd finished reading. "He slaughtered them deliberately to kill two birds with one stone...Get rid of a thorn in his side and gain your loyalty at the same time." Janelle was truly horrified by his sheer callousness, and by the manipulation they had all fallen into. "Were there others like you, others he bought in a similar way?"

"There were. I'll find their files," Verdot agreed. "They shouldn't be far from where I found that one. Go find a place to sit down and rest for awhile, Lady Shinra."

"Thank you..." she sighed tiredly. There wasn't much for seating there, but there _were_ a few desks with chairs in the room, so she made her way to the closest of them and sat. About fifteen minutes later, Verdot found her with four more folders, his gaze broken. It didn't take her long to find out why.

Every single one of those files told exactly the same story. Everything had been pre-arranged by her husband to undermine her power, and to use the people she cared the most about in the world to do it. And the sheer amount of death and suffering he had caused by so doing...

"Marius...What have you done...?" she sighed tiredly, rubbing her eyes to banish the tears in them.

"_That's why he _has_ to be stopped,_" Carbuncle told her quietly.

Janelle opened her eyes and looked up to meet Verdot's gaze, then held her arms out to him in offer of a hug. He accepted the offer, and spent almost an hour crying softly on her shoulder, even as she returned the favor.


	43. 42-Wheels Turning

Wheels Turning

Verdot and Lady Shinra returned to her office, Verdot carrying the files they had found, only to see Vincent and Eonna there—staring at them in shock. "You were safe alone with Verdot this whole time, Lady Shinra?" Vincent asked faintly.

"I wasn't alone with him. Apparently, the last time Auryn was here, he left a protective Summon called Carbuncle to watch over me," she replied, pointing at the aqua-colored creature on her shoulder. "But, we found out something...bad."

"No offense, but most of what we've been finding out lately has been bad," Vincent pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not _this_ bad," she told him with a tired sigh.

"There's one more thing you should probably know," Verdot told her quietly, placing the folders on her desk as she made her way to her seat and sat.

"What's that?" Janelle asked of the man.

He sighed heavily. "In the Nibel Mountains, the day you were injured...That was actually my fault. Their deaths, our injuries...I was stupid...I actually believed a herd of wild Behemoths would somehow 'obey an unstated instruction' to only 'do some damage to you and undermine your power in the process.' Well, it did that, but it cost three Turks their lives, crippled you, and left Vincent and myself bed-ridden in the Hospital Wing for almost half a year. I could have prevented it by telling you about the herd before we got there, but the President..."

Vincent's eyes widened in alarm as Janelle's eyes closed again. "So that was it," she sighed. "I had wondered, but I didn't want to believe one of my own had betrayed me so early on. Now I know my husband quite literally orchestrated it all. I'm not really surprised, and to be honest, it's not really an issue as things stand."

"Isn't it? With everything it took from you?" Verdot asked tiredly.

The woman smiled and met his gaze as she answered, "It took things from me. It gave me them, too. I just needed to realize that I didn't need to try to get back what I'd lost, I needed to learn how to reach the same goals in a new way. What's done is done and we can't undo it, Verdot. What we need to do is decide how we're going to move forward from here."

"I should...dissolve the Hounds..." Verdot said in a quiet tone.

"No," Janelle answered, still meeting his gaze. "The one thing I'm sure of now is that we _need_ this division, or at least, we need to _look_ like we still have one. In Auryn's scenarios, it never mattered, because I was already dead by then and the Turks _all_ belonged to him. This is the first time he's been in one where I've been alive, and because Marius is a control freak—even more of one than I realized, apparently—he needs to believe he's got some substantial control. Also, I don't think we could feasibly dissolve the families the Hounds and the Guards have become to one another, or all the festering bad blood there. Some of the Turks in the Hounds were even brought in by him, not by me. That can't just be instantly undone, not without a huge number of negative repercussions."

"...Does it bother you that they have been?" Verdot asked.

"No," Lady Shinra told him with a smile. "He turned out to have chosen well. Maybe he didn't realize it, but he was actually following the same criteria as my own for choosing Turks. If he hadn't made the offer to Balto, for example, _I_ would have, because he fit what _I_ looked for in all of you. We can fix this now that we know the truth, but it can't just be fixed with a snap of the fingers."

"...In that case, can I ask you for a favor?" the man asked. Vincent looked at Verdot sharply as Eonna just blinked and glanced between the leader of the Hounds and Lady Shinra.

"What's that?" the woman asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"...Tseng. He actually seems to be a lot more like me than any of us realized, and—after all of this...I _need_ his help. I can't just go off on another vacation, but in just the last few weeks, I've lost my wife, my daughter, and any faith I ever had in the President, the life I had chosen. He takes so much of the pressure off me it makes a significant difference to—well, to everything. I always did, in some ways, see him like the son I would never have. How much his support has already helped me...If Vincent doesn't need him for anything pressing, I want him on my team," Verdot explained.

"When did Tseng show traits similar to yours?" Vincent asked with a small, puzzled frown.

There was a pause as Verdot looked between a curious Lady Shinra and Vincent a few times, then finally sighed and said, "That incident with Auryn and Hojo...After the boy was returned safely to you, Tseng came to see me. I was sure it would be to lit into me about it as well. He rather bluntly told me that while it shouldn't have happened at all, he would have made the same decision in my place. He also defended that position in front of the Hounds, too, without doubt. You can ask him if you'd like?"

Vincent blinked uncomprehendingly as Lady Shinra looked wryly amused, but then she closed her eyes and said, "Verdot, that decision, to lend his support to you or not, is his to make. If you ask him, and he would like to fill the role, you're welcome to. I think your ploy to get him over to the Hounds in the first place broke something between him and Vincent which hasn't yet repaired itself, and we honestly can't do anything for him which actually satisfies him anymore." She opened her eyes and met Verdot's gaze. "It's not going to be 'official', no more than it already is, because we still do need him for some things. And especially, if he's at least still thought of as a Guard by the other Guards, there won't be an issue with him visiting Ansha, Kariya, or Auryn. Otherwise, for most daily work, if he wants to work with you instead of us, he's free to."

"I'm not sure I grasp how _Tseng_ would be able to justify torture..." Eonna suddenly put in, and Vincent sighed deeply.

"We can thank Fuhito and what he did to the little Budling for that," the black haired man replied tiredly.

"What do you mean?" Verdot asked in shock.

"From what we know, his honorary sister is Aeris, Ifalna's daughter. Recently, Aeris and her rather unusual family adopted a young girl they all teasingly call their 'Budling'," Lady Shinra explained.

"That would be the four or five-year-old girl with the Bandersnatch companion I saw with them in Kalm around the time of the explosion in Midgar, yes?" Verdot cut in to ask thoughtfully, and the others blinked in mild surprise.

"Yes," Lady Shinra sighed faintly. "Apparently, he found out that Fuhito—or many past Fuhitos in Auryn's scenarios—"

"_Di-men-sions!_" Carbuncle put in from the top of the back of Lady Shinra's seat, startling all of them. "_They're real dimensions, not fake 'scenarios'!_"

"Fine, dimensions," Janelle repeated tiredly, and Carbuncle made a happy, chirp-like sound. "Anyway, in many of them, Fuhito took her soul and tortured it, largely by forcing it to torture others for him. This time, that won't happen because she's now here with us, but...For Tseng, that made him tangibly realize there were indeed things which could push him to torture someone, as he truly would have liked to torture Fuhito, and the only reason he wouldn't is the likelihood of escape that would leave the man. In turn, that meant he had to acknowledge Auryn had a real reason to fear him. Apparently, when he came to the realization of the full scope of his nature, he began to reassess many elements of his own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors."

"Which brought him to me just when I needed him the most," Verdot agreed quietly.

"Well, since we seem to have inherited Percia, I suppose there's a certain validity to you effectively inheriting Tseng," Vincent suddenly relented. "By the way, Chaos just woke up, and he's grouchy, so if you don't actually need me at the moment, I'd like to head out of the city to let him work off some of his—whatever emotion it's classified as."

Janelle pinched the bridge of her nose, then gave a nod and agreed, "Go ahead. Verdot, you may as well go speak with Tseng, since there's a good chance he'll want some time to decide. If he wants to speak with someone, tell him to call or visit me because Vincent won't be available for a bit."

Both gave agreement, then headed out.

After a long silence, Eonna asked tentatively, "Are you sure that's all a good idea, Lady Shinra?" In response, the woman just motioned to the folders on her desk, so the Turk moved over to pick them up and start reading them.

A moment later, a voice at the door was accompanied by a light knock as a man asked, "Do you have a minute, Lady Shinra?"

Opening her eyes, she blinked when she saw Reeve in the doorway, so she agreed, "I do. What's the matter, Reeve?"

"There's...Almost an image in my head," he said. She gave him an odd look, so he went on with a wry grin, "A prototype of a device similar to my Cait Siths, but meant to help people who have suffered things like trauma. After meeting Auryn, I really thought...He could use something to cuddle, to keep track of his emotions and try to help him bring them into check, even make sure to alert help if it's needed. And if it's successful, it could help a lot of other people, too. I'd like your backing for it, if at all possible, because I know the President won't—he'll think it's a waste of time because I know for a fact 'trauma' doesn't exist to him."

"And I'm guessing you met with him yesterday when he decided to hightail it to explore more of the building?" Lady Shinra asked in some amusement.

"Hightail it?" Reeve blinked owlishly at her in obvious surprise.

"He was supposed to have been resting in his apartment, or to have let Kariya know if he was leaving. He didn't," the woman replied dryly. "Though, at least Doriss knew, and she alerted us so we didn't have to worry about him."

"I see...Is there a reason he did that?" the man asked in very real worry.

"Lucrecia has been berating my Turks since she found out they've been overloading him with company he currently can't handle," Lady Shinra answered, her gaze sadly amused. "I don't think any of us has quite enough experience, other than Tseng, with the sheer degree of torture he suffered before reaching us...None of us actually realized it was wrong. I didn't especially think they needed to try to rush it, but I also didn't know I needed to stop them from doing it and didn't think it was important enough to tell Lucrecia about it. So, we owe Doriss once again. In that regard, your project may well help, for several reasons."

After a pause, Reeve blinked and nodded. "As in, because it would be able to let Lucrecia know something like that was wrong long before it reached a point like this. About the shaking last night...I heard rumors Auryn and Commander Rhapsodos were both involved, and they were taken away by doctors?"

"The Commander was taken to the Hospital after effectively losing complete control of his power and not having any way to stop it once it started. Auryn was just returned to his room to rest after somehow figuring out how to pull the Commander out of that state. Of course, he also hasn't woken yet, though Lucrecia said we could expect that, because in place of a full-blown panic attack, his mind just shut itself down for awhile, instead," she explained.

The man nodded thoughtfully again and said, "I should probably ask Doctor Crescent about the particular things I'd need to have Auryn's prototype look for, and any other ones made for others would also have to be independently programmed for things they really need to watch for."

"Yes, please do so," she agreed. "Get me the appropriate paperwork and I'll sign off on a series of five prototypes. Obviously one will be for Auryn, but I'll ask Lucrecia and Gast who else they think may really benefit from them, and we'll see how things go from there."

"Thank you, Lady Shinra," the man smiled. "I'll get the paperwork back to you by tomorrow—I hope. I want to get started as soon as I can." He then ran out of the room, leaving Eonna chuckling faintly despite her pale skin and a bemused expression on Lady Shinra's face.

"I'm suddenly thankful he came in just now, since it really lightened the mood of what's in these files," the Turk commented.

"I know," Janelle agreed with a faint smile. "I think there are others more recently, they just may not have been ones Verdot knew about...Those five were my founders or near to them, and were Verdot's and Vincent's comrades, so they all knew one another much better than either of them knows the younger Turks."

"Should I go look before my shift starts?" Eonna asked.

Janelle shook her head. "I'll get someone else to do it shortly. Otherwise, you have plenty enough work to do with your regular duties and the monitoring."

"Okay," the Turk agreed, returning the files to Lady Shinra's desktop. The woman put them in a drawer, then went back to the paperwork she'd been doing earlier.

FoWD

Auryn woke feeling odd and gazed up at the ceiling above him uncomprehendingly for a minute. Then he realized he was in his room again, and wondered how long he'd been out after his mind had apparently shut down completely on him.

"So you're finally awake," Kariya commented from the chair beside the bed. He then sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I guess we were so excited to see you doing better that we didn't think there'd be a problem with getting you used to people again. Well, to the ones you're familiar with in a negative light. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get rid of Lakis, one of the Hounds and one of our only Mages—they're rare in our ranks, as you probably know. What actually happened last night?"

"Don't you _dare_ start without me," Lakis cut in with a glare at Kariya as he stood at the door between Kariya's apartment and Auryn's.

Auryn's eyes moved to the curly-haired man as he recalled what their bond had been in one of the dimensions he'd visited—that same bond had saved his sanity that time. In most dimensions, he'd been dead before Auryn met anyone in the Turks, but in most of the ones where he'd survived, Lakis had just been a friend. Well, until things went horribly wrong, but even then, usually the Mage had just not been there for the fallout. Auryn didn't actually know what path he would have taken—to torture him or not. By that logic, he didn't know if he needed to be cautious around the man, but was more in favor of being all right around him.

"Don't be a dick, Lakis," Kariya replied in annoyance. "I don't even know what happened last night, let alone Auryn's part in it. And you've been refusing to answer my questions, just on principle because I'm a Guard."

"Like you'd do if the tables were turned because I'm a Hound," Lakis retorted.

"Do you really think I'd have let you into my apartment if I was _that_ anal about those stupid battle lines?" the orange haired man replied, still obviously annoyed.

Auryn couldn't help it, he had to chuckle at the exchange, cutting off whatever angry retort Lakis had been about to spew as both turned to stare at him in amazement. "Sorry," he said quietly, slowly sitting up. "Last night, Genesis completely lost control of his power. It's not a common thing—I think it's happened...four? Five?—times before in other scenarios. Except that when he does, he basically destroys himself, and every time, he took pretty much the whole of Midgar with him. I didn't want to see that happen again, so I did what I could to stop it this time—I had enough knowledge to know _how_."

"And those glowing lines around your arms?" Lakis asked.

"Materia arrays, modified and tailored to what I needed them to do just then," Auryn explained. "Minerva—the overarching sentience of the Lifestream—has a few quirks in place regarding Materia and the arrays. I can use freehand, single arrays to do almost anything a Materia can do, and lots of things they can't, but those all take materials. They're versatile and variable, but they aren't very stable, and they don't have enough safeguards to prevent misuse. As a result, even though Minerva won't stop them from being used, she also doesn't 'approve' of their use, so she won't directly help power them, which is why materials are needed. If she approves of a multi-array structure, she'll 'approve' them, meaning she gives them power directly as though they're Materia, and the result is for those lines to appear around the user's wrist."

"Multi-arrays?" Lakis blinked, sitting on the bed beside Auryn's hip, eager to learn more.

"There are arrays—central arrays which determine the 'what' will happen," Auryn began. "Like, that it's going to be a Fire spell or a Cure spell. Some other instructions go into those, more when you're using only one array than when you're using many. There are also sub-arrays, which supplement the instructions in the central array, placing limiters and restrictions, and even giving spells more variety of use. When you change the way a Materia spell functions, you're temporarily changing the instructions in the sub-arrays, not changing the base spell. The more you change the spell, the more you're changing the instructions, and the more difficult it becomes—especially if you don't know what you're actually doing."

"Can I assume the arrays you used were actually your own creation, then?" Lakis asked shrewdly. Auryn looked away, but nodded, so he asked, "And that would make you even more of an expert on Materia, arrays, and spells than Genesis, yes?"

"Only because I had the good fortune to be born in a place where people still knew the rules of how to develop arrays, how they function, and how science ties in to them. Genesis is easily as skilled as I am, he just doesn't have all the knowledge—he had to learn it on the fly, without any real help," the blond answered, looking at Lakis again.

"Teach me, then. Teach me these rules which allow you create your own arrays," the brown haired man demanded calmly.

"What do you plan to do with that knowledge?" Auryn asked in reply, tensing.

"Use it to do my job better, of course," the Turk said bluntly.

"And because you're sworn to the President, that's a problem," the blond informed him quietly.

"Why?" Auryn looked away again, Kariya sighed tiredly, and Lakis got annoyed at getting no response, so asked again, more harshly, "_Why?_"

"Because he's a control freak with no regard for human life and an insane level of greed, to the point where he would rather destroy the world than take a loss of power," Auryn answered quietly, hands clenched in his lap. He'd been doing remarkably well handling the discussion so far (it was about Materia and arrays, after all, so why wouldn't the familiarity of alchemy keep him reasonably calm?), but this was dangerous ground to tread on, and he was expecting a poor reaction to the words. He couldn't stop fear or tension from taking hold anyway, but they weren't extreme yet, and he actually knew _just_ how vicious Lakis could be when he didn't like something, even though he'd been lucky enough to have not been on the receiving end before.

Lakis crossed his arms and replied bluntly, "We're loyal to _Verdot_, _not_ to the President, and Verdot doesn't make a habit of telling the President just how deadly we _are_. He really thinks we're _just_ highly skilled humans who are capable of handling investigation and elimination where required, not that any of us may actually be capable of destroying Midgar single-handedly. He doesn't realize we're _weapons_, not _tools_. I don't even think he sees SOLDIER as weapons in the full sense of the word, or he'd be _a lot_ more wary of them. Don't think for a moment that the President will know what you'll teach me."

"...The President saw me use those lines, those arrays, last night," Auryn sighed. "Hojo was supposed to create a cover for whatever I did, and I honestly don't know if that cover would excuse others being able to do it, too. I'd have to find out what the cover _is_, first."

"Why wouldn't you want it known? That makes you a powerful ally to whichever side can earn your trust," Lakis blinked in surprise.

"And a deadly threat to the other side," Kariya put in dryly, making Lakis look up at him in surprise. "Seriously, the more power Auryn shows, the more the President will feel threatened by him. The only reason he doesn't right now is because Auryn is obviously too mentally damaged to pose much of a real threat. As he heals, chances are the President will become progressively more wary of him the more he knows about his abilities."

"What if Auryn joined his side because he gave him the better offer?" the Mage-Turk asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah...He's not altruistic enough to offer me something I'd accept," the blond said quietly, and Lakis' gaze moved back to him. "Too many wounds. Too much damage. I can count over a dozen times when he blew up the fucking Planet because he couldn't handle a marginal loss of power, and a handful more where he put it into self-destruct mode by randomly slaughtering about eighty or ninety percent of the world's population." Lakis' eyes were huge by then, and Auryn gave a small shrug, holding back the urge to cry. "It would never be possible for me to give my loyalty to a man like that. I'm pretty sure he senses it, too. That doesn't mean he won't try to use me in the meantime, and ironically enough, Hojo is all that's standing between me and that fate."

For a long time, Lakis was silent, but finally, he sighed and rose. "Fine. For now, I'll wait on that and see how things develop with Hojo's cover for you. If something changes in the future, I want to be the first to know how to do that." The Hound then walked out without waiting for a reply.

"...So, what do you think about that whole discussion?" Kariya asked him, just sounding tired.

"I'd rather _not_ think about it," Auryn replied with a small shudder, then a faint sigh.

"All right. I'll make something to eat, then. It's around noon anyway." The orange haired man also rose and headed out, but stopped in the doorway between the bedrooms as Auryn spoke again.

"How did Lakis know to come here?" he asked quietly.

The man turned back to the blond for a moment, gaze startled as he answered, "I don't actually know, unless he knew for the same reason Balto and Anki did. I doubt it, though, since your retrieval from here was never assigned to him. I'll work on finding out why he knew to come to me." He then kept going to his kitchen.

Auryn sighed and gave his head a shake as he drew in a few deep breaths to help calm himself, then gathered the things he needed for a shower. As though life in this dimension wasn't already complicated enough, now it had to go and get _more_ complicated. Then again, wasn't that just the story of his whole life? He could only hope the President wouldn't start coveting him, because he knew from personal experience that 'coveting' was _very bad_ when it was the President doing it. He would really rather avoid the situation he'd be in if it all went in such a direction, which also meant keeping the man from knowing the full extent of his abilities.

And he was already aware he was pushing that line by what he'd done to bring Genesis back from his near-burnout.

What would come of it...He'd be finding out soon, he supposed.


	44. 43-Pathfinder

Pathfinder

It was the morning of the seventh day since Auryn had been taken back to Shinra, and Aeris was watching in amusement as Nina played a hopping game of her own creation up the stairs leading to Cosmo Canyon. Nina laughed and hopped cheerfully, Alexander trailing behind her with his tail wagging. Their trip from Junon had gone well, though it had helped that many people they'd met along the way had been more than willing to help, especially for Nina's sake. Also, the younger girl had spent a lot of the time riding on Alexander's back, which he hadn't minded in the least—but Aeris had known better, and knew they would need to let the Bandersnatch rest, regardless. Aeris had come to realize Nina was really a little charmer—no one could resist her cheer or her puppy-dog look.

When they turned the last corner to the head of the stairs, the man at the top was watching them in amusement, since Nina was still happily playing her own game. When they got to the top, Nina cheered and threw her arms around Alexander's neck as she announced to him, "I did it, Alexander! I did it! All the way up!" Alexander 'woofed' and stuck his nose in her hair, making her giggle.

"You have an adorable sister," the man told Aeris in amusement. "I take it you're coming in to visit?"

"Yes, we are," Aeris agreed with a grin. "Our Budling _is_ adorable. I didn't realize how much until we were making our way from Costa del Sol to here. It's just a pity the _rest_ of our family couldn't join us. For me, though, Nina was sick for a long time, and seeing her so happy and full of energy is—wonderful."

The man nodded and pointed out a few things, like where the Inn was, then left them to their own devices. The first thing they did was head for the Cosmo Candle, the huge flame on the slab raised like a dais from the main level of the town. Aeris had heard from Mother Ifalna how it didn't need fuel and never went out—it had amazed her to hear something like that, but hearing it and seeing it were two different things. Resting near the fire was a large creature which was mostly an orange color with a red mane trailing down the back of its neck, and while it mostly could have been taken as a mountain lion with a burning tail tip, some of its features were also wolf-like.

"Big kitty! Yay!" Nina cheered, and before Aeris could stop her, the girl had pounced on the large cat, producing a yelp and jump as _the cat_ demanded, "Get off me!"

Nina froze and stared at the cat in amazement from his back as a chuckle sounded from behind Aeris, making her turn to look at another of those cats, but a little paler and with a less prominent mane, as it padded up beside the fifteen-year-old. The—probably female cat, who Alexander was sniffing curiously—set down the basket she carried in her teeth and commented, "I guess we can't hide from you now, since that little imp is so impulsive." By her voice, Aeris realized she'd assessed right, and the one beside her was female. The male had turned his head to glare at Nina, who was still on his back.

"...Oh, my..." Aeris blinked, then turned to Nina and called, "Come back over here, Budling. These—people—obviously don't like you climbing on them with no warning or permission."

"But Big Flower Sister, they're _kitties_!" Nina replied, still obviously amazed. "Like Little Big Brother!"

"What?" the female of the two asked in shock.

"She doesn't mean one of your kind," Aeris replied with a faint sigh, going over to Nina and the male and lifting the girl off his back to put her on her feet on the ground. "She means he can shapeshift into a form that's like a humanoid Griffin. And Nina, we aren't supposed to be sharing that with strangers."

"But they're _kitties_!" Alexander barked and butted up against Nina as the other three sighed tiredly at Nina's statement. As though their form meant they were any less strangers.

"So...who, or what, are the two of you?" Aeris asked of them.

"I'm Deneh and this is Nanaki," the female said, then retrieved the basket and set it down between all of them. "Have some food with us. The Inn prepared it because we're always hungry when we've gone hunting—what we hunt helps feed the town, so we don't get to eat it until supper, like everyone else. Anyway, we're the last two of what are called the Moto Tribe. You actually look a lot like a woman who used to live here, named Ifalna," Deneh commented, eyes on Aeris.

"Oh, that's one of my mothers, my biological one," Aeris smiled. "Mother Ifalna told me she used to live here, that I was actually born here, but she hasn't said all that much about others she knew here. I'm Aeris, and this 'little imp' is Nina. Alexander is her guard, friend, playmate...whatever she wants or needs from him at the time. I don't think I've ever seen a monster so devoted to a human before."

"Alexander's not a monster! He'd a puppy-dog!" Nina retorted as she dug in the basket until she found whatever she wanted in it. Then, she gave one of the items to Alexander to eat and kept the other for herself. "I like puppies and kitties. They're so soft and warm and fuzzy! They're the best to cuddle!"

The other three began giggling, but Nanaki met Aeris' gaze and said, "It's nice to meet you again, Aeris. We knew you when you were a baby, but you probably don't remember that. You apparently have a sister now?"

"She's not my biological sister. Apparently, Minerva helped to save her and sent her to us so we could adopt and raise her. And wherever she goes, so too does Alexander," Aeris explained, getting 'oh's' from the other two. They all settled to pull food out from the basket and eat.

"So what brought you here, and without Ifalna?" Nanaki asked.

"We went on a trip with Auryn—that's the shapeshifter I mentioned before—because there were some things he wanted to do. When we got to Junon, he got kidnapped, and the other woman traveling with us went after him. When we asked Minerva if we should go too, she said coming here was the better bet. She said something about other forms of electricity?" Aeris explained.

"We mostly use wind energy here, but it's sad to say our generators use Mako energy anyway," Deneh sighed. "The generators aren't compatible with other forms of energy, and no one's made a generator to store anything but Mako energy. There aren't enough engineers and scientists here to be able to properly research and develop other energy forms or sources, but we've been working on wind and we've recently started on solar. There's a Wutain here, too, who has been doing some research. He spends a lot of time with the Elder."

"Who kidnapped your friend?" Nanaki asked apprehensively. "I'd have thought you would be a great deal more worried about him and gone after him as well."

"I would have been, if he hadn't been kidnapped by a Turk, and a Turk went after him to get him back," Aeris replied in a dry tone, making the other two gape at her. "I'm better off leaving them to their own devices. And Minerva seems very pleased with how things turned out, and he's fine now. Apparently something went very differently from how it usually would have, and it was in a positive direction. Also, since theoretically, the Turks are looking for me, too, it's better I don't literally hand myself over to them—Mother Ifalna had to rescue me from the Shinra labs, after all."

"But Big Brother Tiger's a Turk, too, and he never takes you back," Nina pointed out, looking up suddenly. "And Big Sister Daggers (1) didn't, either. And Big Sister Gaia didn't, either."

Aeris chuckled as the two Motos traded very puzzled looks, then told the two large cats, "Those three Turks are actually exceptions, not the rule. Though, because the Turks are split between two groups, usually the ones classed as Guards are going to ignore my presence or help get me out of trouble. Tseng—Nina's 'Tiger' brother—is one of those. But Doriss and Percia are Hounds, and most of those who are a danger to me are also Hounds (2). Those two, for some reason, just aren't. I guess they see the world differently?"

"Well, we can wish you luck with that," Deneh commented dryly. "You should probably go get settled at the Inn. If you'll be here awhile, I'm sure we'll have more chances to talk."

"Yes, that's right! We should do that before we explore. Nina, let's go," Aeris said as she pushed herself up, dropping the used packaging back into the basket. "Thank you for the food, and for talking with us."

Nina and Aeris, followed by Alexander, made their way down from the platform and headed for the Inn, Deneh and Nanaki watching them in puzzlement.

Not far from the stairs leading further up into the town, which they had to pass to get to the Inn, an elderly man sat on a hovering ball and a Wutain man faced him. As the ladies were making their way past the pair, the Wutain said in a cold tone, "It doesn't actually matter to me if you share the information freely or if I have to force it out of you. For your own sake, the former would be _a lot_ easier. Either way, I _will_ find out what I want to know about the shards, and don't think for a moment that you have anything to stay my hand."

Nina gasped and clutched at Aeris' hand suddenly, whispering urgently, "That's Fuhito!" She then burst into tears, and Aeris had to turn to face her, crouching and holding her close as she murmured quietly to her to try to calm her. In reality, though, Aeris was suddenly just as afraid as Nina, she just hid it better. Alexander also gave something like a whimper as he leaned against the girl's back.

She couldn't see what happened with the two men behind her, but she heard the elderly man say, "What you want is dangerous knowledge. I'm not in the habit of freely giving out such knowledge."

"A shame. I do hope some time and persuasion will help change your mind. If not—that will be for another day. For now, I'm heading out, but you can expect me back within the month," Fuhito replied, then walked away, leaving the town as Aeris turned her head to watch.

"What happened to the little one?" the elderly man asked worriedly from near her.

"That man—Fuhito—he's a very bad man. Cruel, uncaring...He's the one who blew up part of Midgar not long ago. Have you heard about that here?" Aeris asked, looking up at the elderly man.

"I did. He was responsible?" the elderly man asked tersely. When the young woman nodded, he sighed. "That would explain his desire for a power such as what Zirconaide would have." He then paused and gazed at her for a long moment before asking tentatively, "You wouldn't happen to be Aeris, Ifalna and Gast's daughter, would you?"

She had to smile vaguely at that. "I am."

Nina was finally calming down, so he invited, "Come stay at your parents' place, rather than spending good gil on the Inn."

"Is the Inn not worth good gil?" she asked teasingly in amusement, and he laughed, even as Nina managed a small giggle once Fuhito was gone.

"Oh, it's fine—for _travelers_. _You_ are a _resident_, Aeris," the old man replied with an 'oh, ho, ho' kind of laugh.

"All right, then. Lead the way," Aeris agreed, setting Nina on Alexander's back so the Bandersnatch could carry the obviously out-of-sorts girl. Soon after, the Elder had led them to her parents' old home there and they were settling in.

FoWD

Auryn was letting Kariya work with his wings that afternoon when Doriss came in and silently began helping the man flex the two feathered appendages. Auryn had found he was starting to be able to move them on his own power, but he still couldn't fold them into position on his own—though being able to move them on his own power _at all_ was an improvement. They were at a point where he was able to pull them up about half-way, and he wondered if folding them up behind him would require his effort to hold them there, or if they would just settle into place, as they were intended to fold up in such a way.

When the two finished, Doriss stepped in front of him and commented, "Maybe this is a stupid question, but where are the spikes I gave you?" Kariya stared between the two in surprise, frozen on his way back to his apartment to get snacks for them.

With a sigh, the younger blond said, "I didn't actually have time to figure out where to put them before Kariya was kidnapped and the bomb went off. I think I also hesitated to use them for fear of one of my friends ending up dead. I've had so many bad experiences, in all ways, that I sort of...Even though they might really help, I needed—still need—time to wrap my mind around them, what they do, and how to safe-guard the people I care about. I was never going to put them on instantly, but...I'll get there. I promise."

"So you're saying the defining factor is intent?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah. The way you described them, they can't tell intent. I'm not actually worried about anyone getting a pin-prick injury, but...If I had some way to have people who aren't trying to hurt me be safe from the poison, I wouldn't even think twice about it," he explained to her.

"That's more your field of study than mine, but it might be good to pick Genesis' brain to see if he has any ideas," Doriss pointed out.

"How?" the younger blond asked dryly in reply.

"I can very easily set up a meeting between you two," she answered blandly.

"Don't rush that," Kariya put in, tone just as bland.

"What makes you think I'd rush it?" the other Turk asked.

"Any time you sound disinterested, the opposite is normally true."

"The sooner he can figure out how to make them intent-based, the sooner he'll be able to _use_ them, which will also keep him safer if he goes wandering on his own again."

"If you'd stop _letting_ him go alone, that wouldn't be an issue."

"Unfortunately, we've _all_ been proven to not be omnipotent."

Before Kariya could reply, Auryn sighed, "Could you stop arguing over something that's not your decision to start with, please?"

Both blinked and turned to look at him in something like amazement, and his eyes widened suddenly as he realized he'd just done something more like his old self than he'd done in—likely well over a hundred years' worth of dimension time. He was about to go into a panic, but when they both smiled wryly at him, his brain effectively broke for a few moments, and he dropped into a nearby seat—one of the plush chairs. Doriss sat on the couch near him as Kariya went to get the snacks he'd been about to retrieve before the discussion began.

When he got back and settled across the coffee table from Doriss, she told both, "It would have to wait until Genesis is released from the hospital, anyway, which will probably be a few days. As far as 'rushing' it goes, I can't set up a meeting any sooner than he's actually available for one."

"I guess that's true, anyway," Kariya admitted. "So, you'll check with Auryn before just arranging one?"

"Obviously," the woman replied in annoyance. "I've seen every mistake you lot made with him, and I don't intend to repeat them, thanks. He's had enough stress for the moment."

The man glared at her as Auryn sighed again. "From now on, unless you two can actually _not_ argue over me, you should avoid meeting. Especially if I'm here. Otherwise, you'll drive me crazy yourselves."

Again, the two blinked—then sighed. Doriss checked the time, then rose and said, "My shift starts soon anyway, so for now, I'll head out. See you later, Auryn." She was gone a minute later, and Kariya decided to retrieve the book he'd read to Auryn before to read a few more of the short stories in it to him.

FoWD

Genesis woke suddenly, feeling disoriented and out-of-place. Seeing the Hospital room late at night actually confused him, not because he didn't remember what had happened, but because he _did_. He remembered already being tired, high-strung, still mourning, having had a bad day, and been _so angry—_and meeting Dante just then. He remembered unleashing killing power on that bastard—which he didn't regret.

And he remembered something going horribly wrong in that moment, as the power he was unleashing didn't stop of its own accord when the spell casting duration ended.

Instead, it kept going, and when he tried to manually shut it down, he found he couldn't even _touch_, let alone control, his own power. It got worse—he found himself completely paralyzed, unable to move, unable to speak, as the volume of his energy being put out began increasing. He was completely powerless to stop it, even when it ran out of his magical energy and began draining his life force. When Angeal tried to approach him, he was shoved back, wounded rather severely, and still Genesis had been powerless to stop it. All he could be thankful for was that Scarlet hadn't tried to approach—if he'd done so much damage to Angeal, he shuddered to think what it would have done to _her_.

Then, someone _had_ approached him. Safely. And that someone had somehow forced the power flow to change, and to _stop_.

Auryn.

It was only then when he'd realized the din he'd been able to hear in his mind had sounded like a woman laughing with hysterical joy, the realization only coming when the din became an obvious shriek of rage.

Had his complete loss of control just then had to do with that laughing woman? If so, who was she, and how had she apparently gotten into his head? She had definitely been pleased by what had happened, and had shrieked in rage when the power flow had stopped. Who, or what, ever she was, she had a very destructive bent.

It didn't change the fact that he was a danger to everyone as long as someone with unknown end goals could access his mind and take control of his power. Did no one else know someone else had caused that to happen? Was that why he was in the hospital, because they didn't realize the extent of the danger?

He sat up and was about to slide out of the bed when a woman's voice commented, "I thought you'd try to get up before you were ready." Looking in the direction of the door, he saw Doctor Lucrecia Crescent there, a folder in hand and a shrewd gaze as she met his eyes evenly.

"Someone else was inside my head and I couldn't stop it!" he said, about to keep moving.

"I was afraid of that," Lucrecia sighed, and he stopped in surprise. "The other person—what could you tell about them?"

"...It was a woman's voice, laughing about my loss of control, and screaming in fury when Auryn shut it all down," he admitted slowly, wondering why she seemed aware of what had happened.

"Jenova," she sighed tiredly. "Whether you intended to or not, you gave her an opening to gain control of you, and if Auryn hadn't worked a miracle, you'd have gone into something called 'burnout' and destroyed the whole of Midgar. And because Jenova is apparently Hellfire-bent on destroying the world, that would truly have suited her. Like Sephiroth and Hewley, you were used in Jenova cell experiments before your birth, and these are the repercussions."

"...How do you know it's this...Jenova?" Genesis asked warily.

"I was one of the Doctors participating in those early experiments," she replied bluntly. "And you grew wings, one physical and one of energy. That's one of the signs you've activated her cells. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, if your mind is prepared to hold itself intact against her mental assault. After the day you'd just had, no one would have expected you to."

"...I grew wings?" Genesis repeated, feeling decidedly blindsided by that. He somehow couldn't recall that detail—hadn't felt it in any way. "Wait, _why_ do you know that's a sign?"

"Sephiroth grows a black wing with an energy one when he needs them," the woman offered. "And yes, you did—the physical one was streaked in black and white. It's a rather unusual effect in appearance, though with only Sephiroth as an example to date, maybe it's just a natural difference between your genetics and his. I would speculate Hewley will also eventually gain wings in a moment of need. No other SOLDIERs have enough of Jenova's genetics to do so."

For a few long moments, Genesis just sat and stared at her, processing what she was saying, then asked, "So am I a danger to society, or not? And why are _you_ here rather than Hollander, or even Hojo?"

Her lips quirked in amusement as she asked in reply, "Since when are SOLDIERs _not_ a possible danger to society? In that regard, nothing at all has changed, and thanks to Auryn, I'm certain Jenova lost the foothold she had on you, which means all you need to do is keep control of yourself as you always do." He gaped at her, and she went on, "As to why I'm here, you and Hewley have both been moved to my care, thanks in great part to Hollander deliberately falsifying his research and medical data on the two of you. Commander, he never told you about your body degenerating, did he?"

"...My body is what?" the red haired man asked, suddenly feeling a sense of doom.

"The cells used on Sephiroth were live. The effect was stronger and more immediate, but less versatile than the other option. Both of you Commanders were infused with dead cells. It took you longer to build your strength, but you have a greater versatility which geared itself very neatly to your natural strengths. It had an additional side-effect of causing cell die-off in your bodies, though the effect is prolonged unless something were to suddenly trigger a mass die-off of cells." She paused as he stared at her in horror, then went on, "But, there _is_ a cure, and because of the bad blood between Hojo and Hollander, neither would have even allowed that option to you. Hence why he never told you. Since my work to try to fix the problem allows Hojo to 'destroy' Hollander's work, he's given me permission to work with you."

For several long moments, Genesis just stared at her in a cross between horror, shock, and amazement, and began calculating several points of odd events since Auryn had been returned to the Shinra building for care. Something clicked and he asked, "So, I'm guessing you know about Kariya, Shalua, and Shelke and them being related to me?" She blinked, but inclined her head. "Is Shelke as good with Materia as rumors say?"

The woman smiled and agreed, "Ever since the day Auryn gave her a lesson on how they _actually work_, yes. The rest has all been her. So, does that mean you would be all right with meeting and getting to know them? Kariya is your father and the girls are your sisters. It's unfortunate your mother died some months ago now, before we knew about the bond between you."

He crossed his arms and asked, "So why didn't they want me?"

"They _did_," Doctor Crescent answered. "Hollander felt it would be easier to keep an eye on you if you didn't have an anti-Shinra terrorist as a father, and if you were in the same area as his _other_ Subject, Angeal Hewley. He sent an infant's corpse back to your mother, saying you had died, then took you and foisted you on the Rhapsodos family. Your mother never recovered, even after her daughters were born. The girls never knew about you, and Kariya, like your mother, believed you were dead—until Auryn pointed out that you've been here all along."

The man's eyes widened as he realized Angeal had been right—though he likely never would have guessed how far it went—then they shut as he felt the twisting pain of multiple levels of betrayal. What did he have left, besides to at least try to get to know the family he had left? And he was suddenly thankful he wouldn't be dealing with Hollander again.

"How is this going to work if you're all Guards and I've been allocated to the Hounds?" he asked tiredly.

"There are notable places where the battle lines don't exist. You even _know_ one of them. Why can't you get to know them in those places?" she asked shrewdly.

Despite everything he'd just learned, Genesis had to smile at the point. It was a chance.

**Notes:**

(1) Big Sister Daggers is what Nina calls Doriss, a name she gave the lady Turk while they were traveling between Doriss' home just outside the Midgar Wastes and Junon. And since it only came up once before...Big Sister Gaia is Percia/Felicia.

(2) Keep in mind that Aeris has no idea of the events at Shinra Headquarters, so she doesn't know Percia is now a Guard, not a Hound, or that Tseng is on the cusp of effectively being moved to the Hounds nearly full-time.


	45. 44-In Present as in Past

In Present as in Past

For a few long moments, Tseng paused outside the door to Lady Shinra's office, then knocked and opened it. Verde was there with Lady Shinra and a small, aqua-colored creature he somehow realized was a Summon, but not one he'd seen before. Since Verdot had informed him Vincent had left the city for a time, he wasn't surprised to see him not there—it was more an issue of being surprised Vincent dared leave Lady Shinra unattended. The woman glanced up from her paperwork and beckoned him in, so he walked over to stand in front of her desk.

She quickly finished reading the document and signed it, then looked up at him, saying, "I'm guessing Verdot has been to speak with you?" Verde's head lifted from the file he'd been working on to stare with wide eyes.

"He did," Tseng agreed. "...You really gave your permission for me to work with the Hounds in that capacity?"

"If it's what you want to do, then yes," Lady Shinra agreed. "You know yourself that what you can do with us is limited, and right now, you can help him a great deal more than you can us. I don't begrudge either of you the opportunity. As long as we still have your help on the occasions we need it, there's no issue."

For a moment, the Wutain paused, then asked, "Why _did_ Vincent leave you alone?"

"Apparently, Auryn had the foresight to leave me a guard," the woman replied in amusement, pointing at the aqua-colored Summon on the back of her chair. "One who can keep me completely unharmed, without harming my attacker, either. This little one—Carbuncle—even assured me it could keep me safe if I fell to the street from here, though doing so would likely send it into recovery and leave me with minor wounds. With it here, and with Chaos apparently having woken, Vincent felt safe leaving me here with whatever scheduled Turks would normally be present. Did you have any other questions?"

Tseng nodded and asked quietly, "Why did you give permission? He made it sound like he didn't even really have to bargain for this arrangement."

Sighing, the woman sat back and said, "Let me be frank, Tseng. Verdot has lost nearly everything he held dear in a matter of a few weeks, and with us now in charge of Percia, his request for your assistance is neither unexpected, nor unreasonable. Since you seem to do well with them and you have far more to actually _do_ there than here, the arrangement would also be satisfactory for you, assuming it's a path you wish to take. He requested you specifically, and I agreed, because you aren't just 'another Turk' to him, you're _family_. Has he mentioned that point to you before?"

Nodding, Tseng agreed, "Not too long ago, he told me I was like the son he'd never had—it sort of implies he's been keeping a closer eye on me than both Vincent and Kariya combined." Lady Shinra nodded, so he paused before saying, "It's true I have more to do there, things which are challenging on more levels than just research and investigation. We're also down a Hound for the next several months for an undercover operation, so my presence will help pick up that slack, too. If you're sure it's fine, I'd like to work with him, and _them_."

Lady Shinra smiled and nodded once. "Then go ahead. I still know where to find you if I need you. And remember to take care of yourself and to visit Auryn regularly."

With a nod of his own and a faint smile, he said, "Another time, then, Lady Shinra." He turned and left, feeling more certain of his decision then, and made his way down to the Turks' office. It would be nearing the end of the day shift, so he'd be able to let the man know before he left for the day, if nothing else. In all honesty, what had most worried him about the proposition was being viewed as 'an enemy' by the Guards, but if that wasn't going to happen, there was nothing to worry about. Things had certainly begun to change very quickly, though...Since the bombing, especially, but even before then.

As he stepped into the main office, a terse-looking Verdot was making his way to the door, the other Hounds looking apprehensive. When the man froze in surprise for a moment, Tseng tipped his head to the side in confusion, but before he could ask, the older man beat him to it with the words, "Does this mean you've accepted?"

"It does," Tseng agreed. He noted the other present Turks trading puzzled looks.

"Good, then I need you to come with me to a meeting. If you're directly asked a question, you'll have to answer it, but otherwise, I'd just like you to closely observe and tell me your thoughts and assessments when we've gotten to a safer location to speak freely. Which likely won't be here," the man burst out in a rush, even as he walked forward and caught Tseng's elbow with one hand to turn him and pull him from the office as he headed for the elevators.

"Who are we meeting?" Tseng asked, feeling amazed and completely stumped by what was going on. He'd noted just before being dragged out of the office how most of the other Turks felt the same.

"The President, and most likely Heidegger and Hojo. If Scarlet got wind of the meeting, she'll likely be there, too, but she _always_ seems to be in meetings she wasn't invited to, so I'd bet on her presence more than even Hojo's," Verdot explained. They were in the elevator and heading back for the sixty-ninth floor, where he'd just come from—it was the only way to reach the President's office.

"How will that work when they know me as a Guard?" the Wutain asked in vague annoyance and apprehension. "Especially since Heidegger doesn't like Wutains?"

"But you're not _really_ a Guard anymore, are you?" Verdot asked pointedly. Tseng blinked, and the man went on, "So capitalize on that fact."

"And your reason for having me there?" the younger man asked as the elevator opened and they stepped out.

"A sounding board for any of us present to review the data and reassess it," the older of the two replied, leading the way through the lobby to the stairs at the far end of the space.

They ascended the stairs, and Tseng found himself in a place he'd never been before—the President's personal office on floor seventy. The large desk was arranged to represent the divide, though everyone present seemed to be sitting to the same side of it. Much of the carpeting was in red with gold edging, and Hojo was furiously pacing in front of the desk while Heidegger and Scarlet sat watching him, and the President was glaring at Verdot—and at _him_. That didn't leave Tseng feeling very good, but he put on a blank mask and forced himself to at least _look_ calm. Maybe he'd gotten in over his head? Unfortunately, it was far too late to back out now, so sticking it out was all he could do.

"Why did you bring Valentine's pet Guard here, Verdot?" the President asked sharply, causing all eyes to go to the two Turks, even as Hojo also stopped pacing to gaze at them.

Before Verdot could answer, Hojo said, "Oh, so he _did_ end up going back to the Hounds. What _did_ Valentine _do_ to him to make him turn?"

"That would be litting into him for apparently falsifying data, and I don't think he properly apologized after finding the original copies," Verdot replied to Hojo, who gave an impressed whistle, then looked up at the President and explained, "He was in command of the Hounds during the bombing and search and rescue. That intrinsically changed his status and state of mind—he's one of us now."

"And how do you know that's not some ploy to get a spy into your ranks?" Heidegger bit out.

The words actually made Tseng angry enough to reply before Verdot could, "With all due respect, Sir, I have _nowhere else to go_ with the Guards, and my workload has nearly vanished entirely. They don't need me there, and I'm tired of being at a stand-still. The Hounds and Verdot have offered me a great deal more, and more satisfying, work, so since the opportunity arose, I took it."

After a shocked pause, the President asked, "And what about the issue with that blond boy of Hojo's? I know how much you Guards hate what you perceive as 'torture'."

"It _is_ torture," Tseng replied flatly. "Like I told the Hounds when they asked me the same thing, I don't especially _like_ that it happened at all, but ultimately, I'd have made the same decision. In that, I've found I'm less like a Guard than I realized three years ago, and believe me when I say I would be first in line to torture the bastard who blew a hole in Midgar if I wasn't well aware prolonging his death would likely lead to his escape—something I daresay _none_ of us want to deal with."

The words made everyone stare at him and blink owlishly, except for Verdot, who managed to give him a small smile before facing the President again.

"So, do you still have complaints, President Shinra?" the older Turk asked.

With an annoyed motion, the President effectively motioned them to the table, so Verdot pointed Tseng to the place he wanted him to stand, then joined the group at the table.

"Getting back on topic, then—Genesis' state?" Scarlet asked, sending Tseng a shrewd look before facing Hojo again.

"He'll be fine," the Professor replied irritably as he began pacing again. "But he's going to have to be given a reduced workload while he's undergoing the required genetic therapy to fix the problem. Doctor Crescent has assured me of its success, and after checking all of her data, I agree and have signed off on it." Tseng had to blink in surprise at how agreeable to the Guards Hojo was being.

"Why not just eliminate him and remove the risk entirely?" Heidegger asked.

"Because, you moron, it costs millions of gil just to get _one_ SOLDIER to a functioning state, and losing one—having to train another to take their place—is costly. For the original Project S and Project G experiments—Sephiroth Valentine, Angeal Hewley, and Genesis Rhapsodos—the cost is exponentially higher because of research and development. The company would be out easily eight hundred million gil by eliminating a specimen which is still salvageable, _and_ an additional ten million for another SOLDIER's basic training, with no guarantee of an actual replacement for the loss of the Commander. With our current resources on-hand here, we're barely putting out a drop in the bucket to keep a rather impressive specimen, and losing only marginal work for the few weeks the therapy will take," Hojo explained to Heidegger, sounding like he was explaining something simple to a very slow and stupid toddler. Then again, Tseng had to muse, Hojo may as well have been, as it was well-known Heidegger wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

"Fine," Scarlet said, shooting Heidegger an annoyed look. "So, what did Auryn actually _do_ to stop him? Can we replicate it?" Tseng had never heard either a more dangerous or a more expected question from people obsessed with power. What worried him was Hojo's likely reply.

The Professor pushed up his glasses and replied, "Possible, perhaps, but highly unlikely, and Subject G is actually the most likely to ever be able to produce the same result at any time in the future." Tseng's mind stalled on the thought, _Wait, what?_

"What do you mean, Hojo?" the President asked with a frown. "You were adamant he can't be replicated, that you can't make more of him."

"I can't. This is an isolated skill which a highly skilled Mage with Mako enhancements stands a small chance of reproducing, and that would be assuming they have in-depth knowledge of the—arrays—controlling 'magic' and the sheer power with which to reproduce it," Hojo explained, voice hard. "Thanks to the death of our only other strong Mage in SOLDIER, Second Class Kunzel Tarins, Subject G is the only Mage we have with both the skill and power to have any possibility of reproducing it. Any other Mage we have is far too weak and not intent on developing their magical skills, and the only other Mage I can reference who may be able to is a Turk, so has no Mako enhancements—immediately, that would make reproduction next to impossible."

Hojo was _protecting_ Auryn? _And Genesis_? Tseng had seen everything now...

"And the damage 'Subject G' did? All those rooms ruined, and the floor having fallen in, that's costly to repair," Heidegger commented.

"The collapsing floor was actually the fault of some idiot Turks starting a fight there while they were just supposed to be gathering information," Scarlet replied with an amused snort. "And they did us a favor, because it's actually _cheaper_ to put in a new floor than to try to fix the one we were left with. As to all the walls—Genesis saved us the demolitions costs and gave us a perfect opportunity to remodel the place, add more VR rooms, spruce up the older training rooms. He did us a favor, gave us the perfect excuse for something _both of you_ have wanted for _years_, and even saved us costs. If Doctor Crescent can fix the problem which caused his 'burnout', there's nothing really bad about this." Oh, she was definitely a shrewd woman, Tseng had to admit.

Both Heidegger and the President stared at her in surprise for a minute, then turned back to Hojo. "Fine, I'll sign off on the costs of the treatment," the President said. "And we'll start working with Reeve on the redesign of that area of the SOLDIER training floors so we can do the remodeling we wanted. If you have anything to add, inform me by the end of the day three days from now." He paused to get agreement from the others, then said, "Now, next on the agenda for today..."

Tseng sighed faintly as he realized it was going to be a _long_ meeting. Then he thought to wonder why Verdot hadn't yet participated in the discussion...

FoWD

It had been two days since Zack had been sent to Gongaga to help them with a monster problem they had reported to Shinra. While he'd have preferred to stay in the city and with his friends while he mourned both Luxiere and Kunzel, and several other friends who had died, he'd been bluntly informed that life didn't come to a halt because someone died. Things still needed to get done, and for SOLDIERs, that meant fighting monsters. Though, to offset that, he was being sent back to his hometown and was able to see his parents for the first time since he'd left, just as a natural part of his work. The reason he'd been given had been because he was a native of the region and knew very well which monsters belonged there and which ones didn't, but he had the distinct feeling he'd also deliberately been sent home for a visit.

That afternoon, the third day since Genesis' strange-as-Hellfire 'burnout', Zack had tracked a pack of rare creatures from out by the Northern Crater (or in it?) called Cerberuses. They were like a type of Guard Hound (wasn't that name just hilarious when there were the Guards and the Hounds?) which was largely black with a purple tentacle which glowed in the dark. Why they were by Gongaga, he didn't know, but tracking them was leading him towards Cosmo Canyon, and the Cerberuses getting there would be bad news for the townspeople. Picking up his pace, he figured he should really try to catch up to them.

Suddenly, not far from the Canyon entrance, there was a child's shriek and some vicious snarling, so his eyes widened and he bolted forward—only to come to a small clearing near a stream where a girl maybe around four or five was scrambling up a tree and a huge, white wolf called a Bandersnatch was guarding her retreat against several Cerberuses. A Bandersnatch was also a northern creature, but not as powerful—normally—as a Cerberus, and this one was trying to hold off a whole pack of them, all in the name of protecting one human girl!

As he watched, though, one of the Cerberuses jumped at the tree the girl was trying to climb, striking it hard and causing it to shake. The girl slipped and began falling with a shriek, and Zack jumped forward to slice through the stunned Cerberus with his sword as he caught the girl in his other arm before she hit the ground.

"Oopsie-daisy! Be careful, now!" he grinned down at the girl, who just stared at him in awe and amazement, then turned to face the other Cerberuses—just as two jumped at him with snarls.

Dodging to the side so the further one would hit the tree, he focused on taking out the one nearer to him, keeping the girl in his other arm the whole time. Since hitting the tree stunned both of the Cerberuses who had done it, he only actively had to fight the other, and the Bandersnatch seemed to be keeping the other ones busy for the moment. It took a few hits that time, since he wasn't getting a freebie, but he was ready for the second one by the time it had recovered. The battle with it was also easier—notably fewer hits—and he wondered if that was the result of extra damage it had taken from the impact with the tree.

Once he was done with those two, he turned back to the Bandersnatch and the five left around it, jumping at the nearest Cerberus to kill it, even as the Bandersnatch managed to kill another of them. Three were left, one of those mostly dead, so he left that one to the Bandersnatch and took on the strongest of the other two. It fell somewhere between his first two Cerberuses in difficulty to defeat, so it wasn't too bad for time, and by then, the Bandersnatch had taken out the weaker one and nearly defeated the last he'd left it with—that was besides a few it had killed before he'd even gotten there.

Damn, that was one _strong_ Bandersnatch...

"Alexander!" the girl shouted as the Bandersnatch took down the last Cerberus. It then 'woofed' and trotted over to them as the girl held her hands out to pet the bloody monster. "Oh, no! You're all over blood and hurt! We gotta go back an' get Big Flower Sister to help you! And you need a bath!" Meanwhile, the Bandersnatch had been sniffing the girl eagerly—and Zack as well, he noted—and around the time she finished speaking, its tail began wagging happily.

Zack stared between the monster and the girl for a moment before asking, "So, girl, is this your pet?"

"Yup! He's my doggy, Alexander!" the girl smiled up at him, so he set her down on her feet, and she turned to look up at him. "You're strong!"

"Thanks," he told her in amusement. "I'm Zack Fair. You?"

"Nina—um—Gains—bor—row!" she answered, obviously trying to remember the long, hard name. He automatically translated it to 'Gainsborough', though. "We have to go back to Cosmo Canyon to find Big Flower Sister."

"She's probably already noticed you're not there and has been looking for you," he pointed out to the girl. "Why _aren't_ you there?"

"I was bored and tried to follow the big kitties when they left," she replied with a smile. Then her smile fell. "But then, I couldn't find them soon, and when I looked back, I couldn't tell where I came from. I was lost. When I asked the voices to help me, they sent me to the water here! I don't think it was the right way, but I don't know how to get back." She was clearly pouting at the words.

But, one thing stood out to him, so he asked warily, "Voices?"

She gave him a grin and explained, "The lots of voices in the Lifestream. The nice lady who saved me is there too! Big Flower Sister and Little Big Brother hear them, too, and Mommy 'falna does, too. Can we go now, so Big Flower Sister can make Alexander not hurt anymore, please?"

He scratched the back of his head, not sure what to make of the girl, then sighed and directed his Cure spell at the Bandersnatch. He needed to cast five times to heal the monster's wounds, but once he was as good as new, the Bandersnatch jumped into the stream to clean off. Apparently, the monster didn't like being dirty or bloody.

Then, he felt a tug on his hand and looked down at the young girl, who said first, "Thanks!" then went on with the words, "They went back to the Lifestream, you know. They even watched you sadly for a bit before going back all the way. They want you to know—think about the happy times you had with them, don't think about just how 'they aren't there anymore'. They want you to be happy, too."

"Who?" Zack asked, staring at her in amazement.

"Luxiere and Kunzel," she answered, and he sat down hard. There was _no_ way she could possibly know those names—unless she _really was_ hearing those voices, and the two had spoken with her.

"...So...you got to talk with them before they became just...part of your 'voices', I guess?" he asked her slowly, still trying to process the words.

"Yup!" she agreed.

"...Did they say anything else?" he asked quietly.

Her brow furrowed in annoyance. "They did, but it was too hard for me! Big Flower Sister will know! Can we go back to Cosmo Canyon now, please? Or are you lost, too?"

At the words, he had to chuckle, but he rose and picked the girl up so he could carry her in the direction of the Canyon. The Bandersnatch joined them soon after, sprinkling them with water as he shook himself out after his bath in the stream, making Nina shriek and giggle, sounding very happy. It was faster for him to reach Cosmo Canyon with his longer legs than it had been for the girl to leave it, and he knew which way he needed to go to get there, so he paced himself without trying to rush. In the heat of the Canyon, rushing would make things complicated in a way they didn't need to be.

Suddenly, the girl looked up at him and announced, "You're Big Brother Bear!"

"Bear?" he asked with a surprised blink.

"Like, a _really big_ teddy bear, and really strong like a real bear!" she grinned. "Big Brother Bear!"

He had to chuckle and shake his head at the words, but before he could reply, a woman's panicked voice shouted, "Nina! There you are! Are you all right?" It didn't take long for the young woman to reach them, quickly snatching the girl from him to hug her tightly. When he heard Nina call her 'Big Flower Sister', he didn't mind that she had—the woman obviously had reason to worry about her. Though, when he thought about it, other than the color of their hair and eyes, they looked nothing alike...?

By then, Nina had babbled to the woman about the 'mean doggies' and how 'Big Brother Bear' had saved her and helped Alexander, too. The young woman, who looked about his age, stood up to meet his gaze searchingly for a minute before commenting, "I always thought SOLDIERs were scary, but...You saved Nina...And you really don't look all that different from any other man..."

He gave her a wry smile and asked, "Does that mean I'm not scary?"

She looked vaguely amused by the question, but sighed faintly and answered, "I guess so." Aeris then paused for a moment and said, "Your two friends who died in the bombing, Luxiere and Kunzel—and several others...They called you Zack, I think?" He nodded, staring at her in amazement. "They want you to be happy, to live _for_ them. Kunzel really only regrets not being able to stay around longer or say goodbye properly, and Luxiere—apparently you're blaming yourself for his death? He said you need to stop, because he made the choice to do it, something he'd never have done for someone he didn't care about."

She paused to eye him shrewdly for a moment before going on, "All souls come from the Lifestream, and all souls go back to it when they die—with only a very few exceptions—so they never truly die. They'll be able to be reborn from the Lifestream when they're ready. Just realize that the best thing you can do is be happy and to keep trying to make the world a better place so they have a good world to come back to. Until they're reborn, some small part of them will keep watching over you, so don't make them worry too much, okay?"

For a few long moments, the two just traded looks, until Nina announced, "Let's go home! I'm hungry!" Alexander gave a happy 'woof' as the young woman chuckled.

"Okay, Budling, let's go," the woman agreed.

"Could I join you?" he asked suddenly, not wanting to part ways with the cute girl or the attractive young woman just yet. "There were Cerberuses from the Northern Crater heading in this direction, and I don't actually know if the ones Alexander and I just fought are the last of them yet. And, I can carry Nina, since it's still a fair walk to the town."

"Ah, the nice lady is giggling! What's that mean?" Nina asked of the other woman.

"It means she doesn't mind, and seems to think this is funny for some reason," the young woman answered in mild amusement of her own. "So, I suppose it's all right if you join us. My name's Aeris Gainsborough. Even though I got part of your name, what's the rest of it?"

"Zack Fair. It's nice to meet you," he smiled, offering her his hand. She took it and they shook, then he stooped to pick Nina up and carry her again. They then made the rest of the trip to Cosmo Canyon, where Aeris' word had him admitted by a suspicious guard.


	46. 45-Make More

Make More...

Shelke was having fun exploring without Shalua watching over her all the time, and since she had time between her morning class and her afternoon one, there was a lot she could do. That often meant checking to see what all the rooms on public floors offered—even though many of the doors were locked, there were a few on every floor which were for 'civilian use', and Academy students were encouraged to make use of those resources for classes. And, poking around all over the building was fun, too, especially when she found things to help her with her SND or her new-found skill with Materia.

As she turned the corner on a floor which seemed to be mostly archives, and mostly locked to her (not that she couldn't have gotten in, she just didn't want to attract attention), she heard the sound of the elevator door and realized she'd come back around to the front. What made her pause was how she saw her father step into one elevator with several folders in his hands, and something made her run to the elevator doors. Of course, they had already closed, so she looked up at the numbers above the elevator door which indicated the floor the elevator was on, watching for where it stopped. She half-expected it to be on one of the top ten floors of the building, where she couldn't go without permission.

Instead, she saw it stop at the Hospital floor, and wondered if anyone else had been on it with her father. When it didn't move from that floor for over a minute, she decided to find out if she could find him there. Or, if she wasn't able to find him, maybe she could see her brother?

A little grin came to her face as she pressed the button to call the elevator back down to her current floor. It didn't take long for it to get back to her or for her to send it back to the Hospital Wing lobby, where she stepped out and took a quick look around before deciding to walk down one hall which was obviously a patient hall. There were no particular emergencies right then—since the emergency room was first, before more long-term, smaller rooms—so she kept going. If her dad was delivering paperwork here, she'd probably never find him without being invited into a doctor's office, and she didn't have an appointment with Doctor Crescent.

That left her brother, Commander Genesis Rhapsodos.

Pausing, she rested her hand on the wall she was passing, asking it with her SND which room the man was in. Since the patient rooms were all recorded electronically, even behind a security system, she could reach them rather easily that way, and as long as she knew who she was looking for, there was no delay beyond the mainframe's processing time. Only seconds later, she knew the room number where Genesis was, so made her way to it with a smile. The door was closed when she got there, and she could hear voices, making her curious, so she just barely opened the door, being careful to be silent.

There was a slight lull in the discussion by the time she had it open a crack and could actually hear them, but then she heard a voice she wasn't familiar with say, "You know, my first reaction was that I'd been abandoned and unwanted. I'm—not actually ready to deal with you yet, even knowing the new information."

"If your usual behaviors are any indication, you never _will_ be if one of _us_ doesn't take the first step," her father answered in a soft tone. "I don't want to just wait around for something that probably won't happen, since the only thing which would really help you believe we did, and do, want you is if _we_ seek you out, not the other way around." A pause followed, then Kariya went on, "Genesis, we're all in the same boat here, we all have things to work our minds around and new data to process. I tipped you off with the photo because I had just been recently blind-sided by the revelation, and didn't want you to be literally blind-sided by it, too. It's hard to process with no warning, but even so, I want you to be aware that we _do_ want you. Maybe we'll never be a traditional family, but you're still my son, and I still want to be on at least friendly terms with you."

There was a sigh from the other man, probably Genesis, before he asked, "What was your side of things from back then, when Shinra...apparently took me from you? Yours and my mother's? How could I have ended up with Shinra in the _first_ place, or been taken away without you knowing I was still alive?" Actually, Shelke also thought those were good questions.

"Shalyn was one of the scientists on the team working with Hollander on the branch of a top-secret project I'd been told was called Project G. I never knew what that was for, but it wasn't your name, or what the details of the project were. She and Gillian Hewley—"

"That's Angeal's mother!" Genesis cut in, voice shocked.

"Yeah, and she'd been one of Shalyn's best friends. Anyway, they had both been pregnant around the same time, which also coincided with the point in the project where they were going to do infusions into unborn infants to see if things would take—adults and children who had already been born had all failed. She was sure the process would be safe enough, so she agreed to allow you and herself to be used in the project. You were born hale and healthy, but about six months later, while she was at the lab with you for testing, there was an emergency and she lost sight of you. By the time she found any trace of you again, it was when Hollander handed her—what we believed was your six-month-old corpse. She broke when she buried 'you', and quit Shinra entirely soon after taking me to your grave. Over time from that point on, she deteriorated further and further, until finally, once Shalua was old enough to take care of Shelke, she just...faded away," Kariya explained, tone heavy and sad.

"...What about you?" the younger man asked slowly. Shelke had to wonder why their discussion had to be so sad and depressing.

"I wasn't there most of the time—I was an anti-Shinra terrorist and was already treading on thin ice, just by maintaining a relationship with Shalyn. I honestly believed your death was Shinra's way of retaliating against me, and I didn't dare leave any traces after that of my relationship with her—we had both already suffered from your loss, and I wasn't going to risk Shalua and Shelke the same way. I think the only difference between my handling of things and Shalyn's was that I had already suffered the loss of my whole family—saw my mother and siblings' corpses scattered around the apartment—so I already knew how to move past that kind of pain. She had never lost anyone close to her before, so it was a shock to her system, and as her first-born, that just made it worse."

A long silence followed, until Genesis finally asked, "So how did you end up with Shinra if they really did something like that to you?"

"You can thank Tseng for that," Kariya replied in faint amusement, and Shelke perked up, wondering about this new information. Of course, she knew _who_ Tseng was, but she'd never met their Wutain Turk.

"How so?" her brother asked, also sounding genuinely curious.

"I...don't think anyone was ever aware of the whole situation the day I met him. At least, none of Lady Shinra's or Vincent's records showed any complaint, so I have to assume Tseng never told them, or it was the first time and Tseng didn't realize what it meant. There was no sense in stirring up the hornet's nest after the guy was dead, but it _did_ surprise me he actually threw himself in the way to protect Tseng..." Kariya's voice sounded distant and absent in a way Shelke had never heard before, making her frown—also because he was usually _way_ better at explaining things than that. It was like he was so caught up in his memories he'd forgotten to give all the right information.

"Uh...Do you think you could try not being so cryptic?" Genesis asked, sounding wryly amused, and Shelke gave a little nod of agreement, even knowing they couldn't see her and didn't know she was there.

The older man huffed a small chuckle and said, "Sorry. Right from the moment they had landed near the warehouse where some of my boys and I were hiding—I was still the Death God of the Battlefield then—I'd known they were there and had been watching them. As they investigated, I saw several times when the older Turk touched that young Wutain in places he shouldn't have been touching him, and Tseng didn't really react to it, not either way. But, besides how annoying _that_ was—I wasn't paying for a show—they got too close to some things I _really_ didn't want them to find, and I really didn't care if Turks lived or died then. At about that point, the other Turk actually pinned Tseng down with some excuse about having heard something, and the 'fear' I could practically smell from Tseng wasn't the level it should have been for caution or alertness."

Pausing for a moment, Kariya shrugged and said, "I decided to give them something to be afraid of, and started blowing things up as I made my way to them, then aimed to take both of them out with one of the last bombs I had on me. Instead, the older Turk literally used himself as a shield to protect Tseng, and when I moved in for the kill on him—he was _still_ trying to survive, to find some escape, burns, mental trauma, and other injuries aside. That sent me back to when my family had been killed, and I was seeing myself in him, and by extension, I was suddenly seeing a _human being_, not just a uniform for a scumbag. When I ran that 'show' back through my mind, I realized killing him would just be adding insult to injury. For the first time, I _walked away_ from a Turk who was still alive, even made sure he'd be able to find a way out, without making it obvious so he'd take the chance rather than thinking it was a trap."

"That's...actually pretty gruesome..." Genesis blinked (and Shelke blinked with him, having rather similar thoughts on everything her dad had just said). "And Tseng somehow was a Guard instead of a Hound after that?"

"Like I said, I'm not entirely sure he realized what the older Turk was leading up to, probably thinking the warehouse was abandoned. And since it seemed he didn't, I didn't want to add more trauma to something that was already traumatic enough. Just like how I felt it was better to give you warning before you were blind-sided by having actual living family."

"Yeah, well...I guess you were mostly right in that at least. So thanks," the younger man offered quietly.

"Shelke? What are you doing here?" Angeal's voice asked from behind her, making her give a little 'eep' and turn to face the curious man guiltily—

Only for her father to pull the door open, look down at her with a rather flat expression, then sigh. "Seriously? Spying, Shelke? Do you _want_ the President to allocate you to the Turks?"

"Would he if I'm already working with Mr. Reeve?" she asked, really horrified at the thought. She _hated_ fighting!

"Since when are you working with Reeve?" Kariya asked in surprise.

"...Um...Since yesterday..." she mumbled, staring down at her feet. "Auryn said it was okay if it was Mr. Reeve, and Mr. Reeve is really nice, so...! It's okay, isn't it?" She looked up worriedly—only to see her father hold his hand to his head like it hurt as she heard both Angeal and Genesis chuckle. "...Um...Dad?" she asked apprehensively.

"Why are you here, exactly?" Kariya asked, hand still to his head.

She blushed faintly as she said, "Because I saw on the elevator that this was where you came and I thought I'd try to find you but then I realized I couldn't so I'd try to find my brother instead and—"

"Breathe, Shelke. Breathe," the man told her, dropping his hand to gaze at her in amusement.

It was only then when she realized she'd been talking without taking a breath, leading to her having to just stand there and pant for a minute until she got her breath back. She noted with some annoyance how she could hear Genesis chuckling from inside the room and felt like she wanted to stick her tongue out at him, except that he wouldn't see it if she did it where she was currently standing.

When she had calmed down, the older man said, "Fine, if you want to visit with him, go on. I'll trust Hewley to make sure you get safely back to the Academy, all right?"

She blinked up at him in amazement, then asked in a cross between shock and horror, "Wait, you're leaving? _Now_?"

"I still have work to do, kiddo," Kariya replied, tone dryly amused. "This was never going to be a long visit, and my time's up, so yes, I'm leaving now. We'll talk more about Auryn and your apparent new job later." He stepped back into the room to pick up the file folders from the foot of the bed, saying to Genesis as he did, "I'll be seeing you again so we can talk more, and maybe next time, it'll be less depressing topics."

"Yeah, sure...Since I apparently don't have a choice in the matter," Genesis agreed in vague amusement, and Kariya gave him a wave before leaving, causing Angeal to nudge Shelke—a suddenly really, really nervous Shelke—into the room.

It was her first time seeing him personally, and the first thing that struck her as she stared up at Genesis' equally curious gaze was that he looked like a male version of her. Or, well, she looked like a female version of him. But he was actually a rather delicate, almost beautiful man, even though she could somehow _feel_ the strength in him. Actually, she _felt_ more strength from him than she did from Angeal, when she saw the two side-by-side. Angeal just _looked_ strong, rather than _felt_ it. Though, since she already knew for sure they were both strong, just in different ways, she had to wonder why she couldn't feel the same strength from Angeal.

"So, are you the one who can apparently make roses out of Materia-generated ice magic?" Genesis asked her curiously after a minute.

The words made her grin and hold up a hand to call on her Ice spell, forming the rose right there. She then offered it to him, noting his impressed gaze, saying in her usual, chirping tone, "It gets easier the more I do it!"

Genesis took the ice rose with an impressed whistle and told her, "You're certainly a quick study and a fantastic Mage to be able to do this. Shall we make it glow?"

"Really? Can we?" she asked eagerly. He chuckled, and a moment later, the ice rose in his hand lit up with inner fire, glowing gently with red light. "How?" she asked in amazement.

"There's a way to let Fire and Ice spells co-exist in the same space without reacting to one another," he told her, almost preening at having her attention focused on him. She realized he was, but she also thought he deserved it if he could do something like what he'd just told her. "I can show you how, but you also need to realize doing this will 'weaponize' the target of the effect."

"Weaponize?" she asked in confusion.

"This rose is now basically a high-powered grenade waiting for its pin to be pulled so it'll explode," he informed her, offering it back. She 'eeped', making him chuckle and say, "It's safe enough as long as the pin stays in it. Just don't be careless with it, especially not by trying to modify it further. Because the 'pin' is made with arrays as well, what sets it off is changing those arrays, which removes the pin by default. The only other danger would be someone actively shattering the object, which is pretty rare from my personal experience."

"...You don't live and go to school with other kids, though," she pointed out to him. "We break stuff all the time, even things adults thought we couldn't break."

"Then we'll have to make it shatter-proof," he answered, still offering the glowing ice rose back to her.

Tentatively, she took it. "Can we?"

"Since I now know the array for the Shield Materia—and the Shield spell—yes. Or Resist would also work, and that's just a regular function of a near-Mastered Heal Materia," he explained.

"So, if the two of you are going to talk Materia and magic, should I go pick up something to eat for us?" Angeal asked, cutting into the discussion in amusement.

"Yes, please!" Genesis agreed eagerly. "Hospital food sucks worse than cafeteria food!" Shelke began giggling at the words, but gave the man a nod of agreement.

"Later, then," the man agreed, heading out as Shelke called, "Thank you!"

She and Genesis then went back to their discussion.

FoWD

Lady Shinra sighed faintly as she picked up her copy of Reeve's new prototype request for the 'health helpers' he wanted to create. It was a fantastic idea in theory, and the Cait Siths he'd already made were decidedly useful and easily overlooked, but could something so complex actually work? She wanted to know because this option for people would be incredibly useful going forward in society, but it would also beg the question of how to get them to people who truly needed them—those who didn't have the funds to do much more than survive. An easy way to start would be to take those people as test samples, thereby giving them viable access to their medical needs, but she could only maintain that testing for so long before it would fall apart. She needed a longer-term plan than that.

"Mother," Rufus' terse voice interrupted her thoughts, making her look up at him as he approached her desk with several folders in his hands. Terri straightened to eye the younger man almost warily, and she didn't blame the man—it seemed every day they were getting more bad news.

"What did you find out that you needed to bring to me?" she asked her son, setting aside the paperwork for Reeve's project.

"Where's Vincent?" he asked almost sharply.

"Getting caught up on some much-needed 'life' time outside me now that I have another guard," she replied dryly, pointing at the top of her chair, where a creature he'd never seen before was apparently napping. "What did you need?"

"Two things," he answered, dropping one of the files on the desk. "The first is that I may have accidentally found our mole, the one funding Fuhito." With a startled blink, Janelle picked up the folder and opened it to see that it was financial records for many rather large transactions which went nowhere. While it wasn't absolute proof, it was admittedly an unusual situation to see on paper. "I found that mixed in with the archives on the Mayor's floor—where I also realized he disorganizes things for us on purpose—and when I checked the account the funds are coming from, those are the Mayor's account. Midgar's Mayor has plenty of reason to hate us personally, and to hate Shinra in general, so he would have motive to fund someone who qualifies as an anti-Shinra terrorist," Rufus explained.

She blinked up at her son in surprise and asked, "Mayor Domino, who is even more meek than Palmer?"

"Didn't you once tell me it was the quiet ones who were truly the most dangerous, because you'd never notice they were doing anything until it was too late?" Rufus replied dryly.

"...Fine, that's a fair point," Janelle agreed with a faint sigh. "And what else did you find on what other case?"

"These are the _actual_ records of the state of things around the Reactors, dating back right to when the Nibelheim Reactor was first built," Rufus replied, setting the rest of the folders down beside the first one. "Father has been handing us falsified data pretty much since the foundation and creation of the Reactors, and you may actually _need_ to ask Auryn if he knows anything about the damage the Reactors are doing to the world. _Because_ these records are showing tell-tale signs of mass die-off of virtually everything in the areas of the Reactors in ever-growing circles around them. The Midgar Reactors, for example, are the direct and immediate cause of the Wastes, just to start. Even though this wasn't what I was supposed to be looking for by that definition, it _is_ another instance of him having blatantly lied to you and hidden or falsified data. And looking at the rate of the destruction of the Reactor regions—it's actually terrifying to realize how quickly the land around us is dying. Auryn is the one most likely to know what's going on."

"_I can answer that, actually,_" the odd creature said from the top of Janelle's chair, making her turn to look at it in surprise.

"Can you, Carbuncle?" she asked in amazement, and Rufus had the sudden epiphany that the creature was a Summon.

"_Yup,_" it agreed, jumping down to stand on her desk. "_Gaia—the Planet—it's a very small planet compared to most of them, which means there's lots more energy here, in one place, than anywhere else you could go._" Carbuncle paused to wave both its ears and arms in lines like repeated circles. "_Minerva is the Planet's sentience, the one who manages the energy flow, the Lifestream, births, deaths, the cycle of life here. She is the Lifestream, and the Lifestream is pure energy. From that energy comes the souls of the people on the Planet, of the animals, of the monsters, of the nutrients in the soil and the metals we mine._"

Stopping, the small Summon jumped and flew over to land on Rufus' head, causing the young man to swat at it—only to find it out of reach and giggling until he decided to stop trying and just let it settle on his head. Carbuncle then pointed down at Rufus and said, "_This kid usually has just enough sense of self-preservation for this to matter to him. I think he's got more this time than he usually does if he realized the problem without Ed—Auryn, sorry—explaining it to him. The Lifestream is pure energy, but it has other forms, too. You know both of them—they're _common._ When there's a certain amount of Lifestream in one area, a Mako Spring forms as the energy starts to compress until it becomes liquid. Then, when Mako compresses further, it becomes solid and turns into Mako crystals—or, what you call Materia._"

"What?" Janelle gasped in shock. "The Lifestream, Mako, and Materia are literally all the same substance, just in three different forms?"

"_Yup!_" Carbuncle chirped happily. "_Just like steam, water, and ice, but energy. So, when your Reactors take Mako out of the Planet, what are they _actually_ taking out of it?_"

"Lifestream, the life of the Planet itself," Rufus answered tersely.

"_Exactly,_" Carbuncle agreed, patting him on the head, then jumping to fly back to Janelle's desk and point at the stack of folders Rufus had put there. "_And the Planet has _finite_ energy to give, it just _seems_ infinite to you because you don't know how to measure it. Because the Reactors pull so much so fast and don't give any back, the Planet's energy level keeps going down. What happens if it disappears completely?_"

After a long silence, Janelle sighed and said, "The Planet, and everything on it, dies." Carbuncle gave her a nod, so she asked, "How do we do anything about that?"

"_Besides finding another energy source, you mean?_" Carbuncle asked pointedly, and Rufus stumbled in shock as Janelle stared with wide eyes. "_Get Reeve to re-design the Reactors to be more efficient, because he can increase their efficiency by fifty percent or more. He just needs to know he has to account for the fact that Reactors qualify as Mako Springs by default and need to include Materia development in their processes. It isn't a long-term solution, but it _will_ give you a chance to develop some other energy source by cutting down on how much Mako gets pulled and _wasted_._"

For a moment, all three humans just stared at the Summon, until finally, Janelle asked, "And why do you know details like these, Carbuncle?"

"_What?_" the creature blinked at her, almost like it didn't understand the question. Then, it was like a light went off in its head and it went on, "_Oh, that—it's because Auryn has had to go through this explanation hundreds of times already. If I didn't know we were in a different dimension each time, I'd be pissed at everyone for 'forgetting' important things he already told you, but I know you're not those same people and never knew it in the first place. So, here's your lesson._"

The words made Lady Shinra sigh and close her eyes as she said, "Thank you for sharing. You've given me a lot to think about now."

"_Sure!_" Carbuncle chirped, returning to the back of her chair.


	47. 46-Variance

Variance

Rufus was back in the archives rooms on the Mayor's floor the following day, annoyed by how many files he found out of place. If he hadn't realized years earlier that the man was _very_ sore over being nothing more than a figurehead and Shinra's mouthpiece (who wouldn't be?), he'd be down-right furious with him. As it was, he was fairly certain it would be to their benefit to either remove the filing system from the Mayor's reach, or...Maybe it would be worth re-organizing their archives system to deliberately place things in the Mayor's reach which they _wanted_ to be difficult and time-consuming for people to sort through? Filing that thought away for later, he went back to work.

A familiar voice interrupted his work as the man asked, "Do you plan to eat any time soon, Rufus?" The speaker's voice was clearly amused.

"I'm busy," he replied blandly, still focused on his work. "Go away."

"It's supper time and you already missed lunch," the speaker replied.

"_Go away_," he repeated irritably. Had he missed lunch? Really? Either way, he still had more work to do.

The other man sighed in faint amusement, and the next thing he knew, the folders he'd been working with were being pulled out of his hands, making him turn to glare at Sephiroth, who set aside the folders on the top of the nearest shelving unit. "Starving yourself won't help," the silver haired man told him pointedly.

"I wasn't starving myself!" Rufus bit out.

Sephiroth gave him a flat look as the younger, blond man's stomach gave a rather pointed rumble. "We've all had a lot of things to do lately. Not taking care of yourself properly is the surest, fastest way to _guarantee_ you won't be any further help for some time to come. I've _been_ there—trust me on this when I say over-work is the _worst_ thing you can do to yourself with things as they are," the young General told him bluntly.

After a short pause, Rufus sighed and relented, "Fine. But I'm _really not_ in the mood for cafeteria food today."

"You don't have to be," Sephiroth answered in amusement. "Let's head out into the city and get something—after all, it would be expected for the Shinra heir to have the General of SOLDIER as a guard. Even if that's really just for show."

Chuckling faintly, Rufus asked, "By the way, have you been to Mother's office lately?"

"I haven't had the luxury. Why?" the silver haired man asked as they began making their way back to the elevator.

"She has a very annoying, but oddly intelligent, creature with her. The thing is a complete brat," Rufus complained loudly, making it sound to anyone who was listening like there was no reason to worry about something which 'largely qualified as a pest.' "It had the gall to perch itself on my head and mess up my hair!"

At the words, Sephiroth burst into laughter, imagining something similar maybe to a winged mouse making a nuisance of itself. "Sounds interesting for the entertainment value."

"Until it lands on _your_ head," Rufus replied in rebellious annoyance. He then dropped his voice low and added, "But it had some insight into our situation and Auryn which is valuable. More than we realized at first."

"We'll further this discussion at our destination," Sephiroth replied as softly. His voice then rose as he answered the first thing Rufus had said, "Even if it did, _I_ don't have 'hair issues'." His eyes were dancing as he threw a smirk at the younger man.

"That's right, _you're_ just an annoyingly perfect pretty boy who somehow manages to never have a hair out of place, even fresh off a battlefield. All the _rest_ of us have to _work_ to keep our looks, thanks..." Rufus returned, still finding that point extremely annoying on several levels. The only two men he knew of who always seemed to look perfect at all times were Sephiroth and Rhapsodos, and he was actually surprised they weren't friends, even if it was only a casual friendship.

By then, they were in the elevator, and Sephiroth was chuckling as he offered, "Even if you say that, it has down-sides, because I virtually can't do anything with it besides putting it in a ponytail at the back of my neck. Anything else just...slides out or falls limp in less than ten minutes."

"Then cut it," Rufus pouted.

"Can't do _that_, either. Apparently, like the _last_ time I tried, my genetics really, _really_ want my hair to be this length, and in less than a week, I'll go from hair as short as yours right back to this. That's why I gave up any kind of styling with it," the silver haired man explained, still looking amused.

Rufus stared at him in shock as he asked incredulously, "Your hair will grow nearly _four feet_ in _less_ than a week?"

"It will," the other man agreed dryly.

"I have _got_ to see that with my own eyes. Shave it all off today while we're out," Rufus ordered him. Seriously, that kind of growth shouldn't be possible!

"Why should I do that?" Sephiroth asked blandly. "Your curiosity isn't worth the hassle."

"You _do_ realize there could be viable medical uses for whatever is making your hair grow like that, right?" Rufus asked in reply.

"Yes, if my mother hadn't studied it and realized that had to do with my Jenova cells, which we're trying to step _away_ from."

The thought actually triggered something in Rufus' mind which caused him to ask apprehensively, "Do you think 'she's' trying to replicate herself in you?"

Blinking in mild surprise, the silver haired man mused, "Given what I know about her, that may actually be possible, but it was never something we had thought of before. I'll ask Mom later."

"Sure," Rufus agreed as they made their way through the lobby of the Shinra building and out onto the streets. "Why _don't_ you like Genesis, by the way?"

"He's a flamboyant publicity hound who is as shallow as an ash tray," Sephiroth replied in annoyance, thinking back to the times he'd had to deal with him. "He's more worried about finding ways around doing his paperwork than he is about the real state of affairs in the world, and generally seems more focused on LOVELESS than on the real life around him."

Rufus snorted in amusement and bluntly asked, "Are you _sure you're_ not the one who's shallow? Because all the Turks know he's a damned shrewd customer, and his tactical ability notably _exceeds_ yours."

"He's a Hound for the sole reason that it gives him the spotlight," Sephiroth replied in a cold tone.

At the words, Rufus actually began laughing, shaking his head as he tried to bring himself back under control. It was the other man's turn to glare at him, and as his laughter faded and Sephiroth began to open his mouth, Rufus said, "He's the only person we know of who could bring Auryn out of a full-blown panic attack _before_ the Doctor started fixing his genetics, and without using any kind of drug to do it. Do you _really_ think someone 'shallow' could do that, or would even _care_? So he likes the spotlight—if you hadn't noticed, _so do I_. That's not an indication of someone being shallow, Sephiroth. Personally, I think some of his flamboyancy has to do with something in his past he's trying to cover up. And you can't deny either his intelligence—which is _required_ of a Mage—or his tactical skill."

"He's useless around the office," Sephiroth scowled.

"So are half the Turks," Rufus smirked. "I can count on one had the number of us who _like_ paperwork, and on another hand the number who get it done on time, whether they like doing it or not. Everyone _else_ has to be prodded, sometimes with something more than an order, to get it done. Even _I_ need some prodding sometimes. Paperwork _sucks_, Sephiroth, and dealing with people who don't keep up on it will _always_ be the bane of anyone in a position of management. Get over yourself, because that _also_ doesn't make Genesis shallow. Sounds like _you_ were only just tapping the surface and chose not to look further—something obviously shallow. An excuse to be upset with someone, maybe?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the older man asked, "If he's all so wise, intelligent, and tactically capable, why in the world would he make a decision as bad as joining the Hounds?"

Smirk widening, Rufus commented, "It's actually amazing _no one_ noticed this one little point about him and Angeal...They all just _assumed_ it was the case because Genesis quite willingly goes on camera as Shinra's poster boy..."

"...What point is that?" Sephiroth asked warily.

"To be fair, I don't even think my Mother or Father caught it," Rufus allowed, smirk fading as he met Sephiroth's gaze evenly. "But he _never declared_ himself or Angeal as anything, and neither did Angeal. Those two are standing in no man's land and have been since they came here. If it's true Shinra fucked him over as badly as they did by effectively stealing him from a loving family, I find it more likely he'll eventually choose the Guards if he finds friends amongst us, rather than enemies. And I _really_ think you need to reassess his depth of character, because _I'm sure_ his lack of declaration wasn't an accident on his part."

Sephiroth stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk to stare in shock at Rufus, who took a few more steps, then turned back to face him, gaze curious. Finally, the silver haired man got his voice to work so he could ask, "How do you know that?"

"Besides how we actually keep records of formal declarations, and there isn't one with either of their names on it?" Rufus asked, and Sephiroth blinked. "For example, yours is in the Guards' files and Hojo's is in the Hounds' files while Percia's has been moved from the Hounds' side to the Guards' and Tseng's has been moved from the Guards' to a separate folder for 'unknown status'. _None_ of the existing files has one for either Genesis Rhapsodos or Angeal Hewley, not even by their 'Subject' status. Also, every public recording, or private recording, we have of the Commanders, if you track back every word they spoke and in response to what, it becomes rather obvious that Genesis is turning words and Angeal is just not answering certain things, apparently letting Genesis speak _for_ him. And Genesis is shockingly good at turning words."

After a pause, Sephiroth admitted, "I suppose that would validate them having not made a decision..." He then took a few steps forward to catch up to Rufus, and the two kept walking towards their intended dining establishment. "Food for thought, I suppose."

"Fair enough," Rufus agreed.

"Why haven't you brought that point to your parents' attention?"

"I'd rather not make people who could force them to choose aware of it. The choice has to be their own, when they're ready to make it, otherwise we'd never be able to be sure they intended their alliance."

"And that in turn would make them liabilities."

"Exactly."

They fell silent for the few minutes longer they needed to get to the restaurant, which was very posh and had partitioned, private tables for diners. It wasn't until they were seated and the waiter had taken their orders that Rufus explained about the discussion with the Summon called Carbuncle.

When he was done, Sephiroth asked, "So...since Jenova shows several of those traits as well, does that make her a similar type of being?"

"In what way?" Rufus asked in surprise.

"Chaos and Omega Theory," the silver haired man replied, and Rufus blinked. "I'm intimately knowledgeable about it because my mother worked on it with Doctor Grimoire Valentine and my father hosts Chaos. If Minerva is the Lifestream itself, then she would _also_ be the essence the Omega would take away from here if it was to be activated. If we assume _every_ world also has a sentience, and therefore the Omega and the Harbinger, that would _also_ mean as worlds died, their energies would enter the Omega body and find means to leave their world to arrive at another. If there are many of them, there are many populated worlds, and it would be possible for more than one Omega to land on the same world. What then? Since this was Minerva's world first, Jenova would be an interloper this world was trying to cleanse, but Jenova's staying power may be a direct result of her being another planetary sentience—an Omega who arrived on an already-populated planet."

Rufus gaped at him for a moment, then gazed off into the distance for a moment before he murmured, "_My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, No matter where the winds may blow_..."

"What in Hellfire was _that_?" Sephiroth asked crossly, wondering why it sounded familiar.

"LOVELESS, Act Three introduction," Rufus answered, suddenly looking pale. "I don't know about the rest of the play, but those poem introductions to the Acts seem to have more relation to Chaos and Omega Theory than they do to the premise of the play. Because honestly, how could 'a world' abhor anyone, unless they were talking about just such an instance of an Omega landing on an already-occupied world?"

"I think you're over-thinking it..." the other man sighed faintly.

"Maybe. But I think it would be worth asking Auryn about to see if he knows any further details or whether or not there's some sort of link there we just missed completely because we were never looking," Rufus answered in a dry tone.

"...As long as you don't start reciting LOVELESS at random moments..." Sephiroth sighed faintly. "I get enough of that from Genesis."

"That was a one-off I'm not planning to repeat, thanks," Rufus replied with a smirk.

"Thank Shiva for that..." the silver haired man agreed. Their meals arrived just then, so they turned their attention to the food.

FoWD

Auryn felt like screaming with both Tseng and Rude sitting across the coffee table from him, gazing at him in something like wary apprehension. Instead, he asked in a carefully controlled tone, "Why are both of you here at the same time?"

"Kariya's in town," Rude said, then stopped, causing Tseng to sigh faintly.

"Since Vincent apparently doesn't need to guard Lady Shinra at all times, he's been able to start taking time off to get things done he's wanted to get done for awhile," the Wutain explained. "In this case, whatever he was doing involved help from Kariya on a moment's notice, but it's not work-related. As for me, this is pretty much all the time off I have now. Have you eaten yet? I don't think Kariya had time to prepare anything."

Giving his head a shake, Auryn answered, "He didn't. I wasn't really hungry then, anyway, but if he won't be back anytime soon..."

With a faint sigh, Tseng muttered, "We _need_ to get you your own food..."

"So I have even _less_ reason to leave this apartment?" the blond asked, managing a faint glare at the Wutain, whose brow rose into his hairline.

"So they're _still_ not treating you like a normal person," he commented, then rose. "Fine, get up. We're going out."

"What, _now_?" Auryn gaped at him in shock.

"You were just complaining about never getting out of here. Are you going to be a hypocrite and reneg on that now, when you've got an offer to go out?" Tseng asked, brow raised in a delicate arch like he _knew_ what the response would be.

"You realize I need to actually wash properly before we go anywhere, right?" Auryn asked, feeling annoyed by the suddenness of Tseng's decision.

"Maybe we should stay in..." Rude put in, obviously uncertain about the direction things had gone.

"Is that all you need, time to wash up?" Tseng asked Auryn, ignoring Rude for the moment.

"...It should be..." the blond murmured uncertainly.

"Fine, get washed up and changed into one of your nicer shirts and pants," the Wutain agreed. "And we'll go out to a restaurant which has booth partitions so you won't feel or see as much of a press of people, but you'll be able to get out of this room and do something _normal_ for a change. Since both Rude and I will be with you, you'll be safe. Fair enough?"

Auryn had to pause to think about the offer for a minute, but he found he was equal parts worried and hopeful. He wanted to be able to go out and do things in the city sometimes, but after everything he'd been through, he couldn't quite banish the fear. Finally, he nodded slowly and agreed, "We can give it a try and see how things go." As he rose to gather clean clothes and shower, Tseng gave him a smile and nod.

"We'll wait, then," Tseng agreed.

As he was stepping into the bathroom, he heard Rude ask, "Is this a good idea?" Curiosity made him pause to hear Tseng's reply.

"Maybe it won't be, but I think it will be fine. Either way, we won't know until we try it. And what would you expect him to do, stop _living_ just when he's starting to get back a desire to actually _do_ so? I'd rather encourage him to heal, not hold him back."

"But our rehab—" Rude began in a pointed tone.

"As the Doctor pointed out, it was flawed on several levels," Tseng replied dryly. "It's not really possible to _force_ someone to heal, and we all either forgot that or never knew it. I gave him both a challenge and an opportunity, but I _also_ was pointedly telling him to make a choice, and to refrain from complaining if he wasn't willing to take my offer. What I felt would happen is what _did_ happen—by his own personality, he tends to complain about things he either needs, or is ready, to change. Staying in all the time is one of them, but that doesn't mean we just take him to some busy fast-food joint, it _means_ we take him to a place with less of a press of people so he can assess what he's _ready_ for. Rushing won't help, but treating him with kid gloves is just as bad. Auryn, stop stalling and go shower."

Rude turned to look in surprise as Auryn—well, he _would have_ flushed in embarrassment if he could have, and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. How had Tseng caught him out so easily? Actually, scratch that, Tseng nearly _always_ did. It was honestly annoying. So far in this dimension, it was the first time he'd done it, though, so it had actually managed to take him by surprise. The Wutain's thoughts on how they should be managing things had merit, and knowing some of Tseng's past, it didn't really surprise him that he'd figure out how to balance things—the Wutain had gone through it, too.

When he was washed and dressed, his hair in a braid because it was still wet, he, Tseng, and Rude headed down to the street, where Tseng led the way to the parking garage in Sector 2 where most Shinra employees parked their cars. Not long after, they were heading for a restaurant in Sector 6 which was similar in layout to the Elements one in Sector 5 (which had been destroyed in the bombing), but with a completely different theme, leaving the car at a parking garage about a block away. The new restaurant only really differed in the partitions the tables by the walls had between them, which allowed a person to see someone who was standing, but not someone sitting. A limited number of people would be able to see in from the open side, and it largely gave a sense of both 'company' and 'privacy'. Since Tseng specifically requested a partitioned-off table, it wasn't long before they were sitting in a booth (all of which offered six seats at the walls) there, waiting for meals.

"So, what do you think, Auryn?" Tseng asked the blond, who actually felt a little dazed by the change in surroundings.

Blinking to try to focus on the Wutain, he replied, "It's sort of like the one time Kariya took me to Elements...I mean, that I can mostly handle it, but it feels...strange, I guess?"

"You haven't been out of your room much since we brought you back here, so I'm not surprised by that," Tseng agreed with a small smile. "What's important is that you can _handle_ being here, and hopefully will enjoy your meal because of it."

Auryn's lips quirked in amusement at the words, but he clarified, "You _do_ realize I went a _very_ long time without being in any kind of restaurant, bar, cafe, or other kind of eating establishment, right? Like, not just since I've been at the Shinra building, because it's actually been about...Oh, in the range of forty years of my time since I've been at one. It's strange to be able to go to them again safely, and not just because of the number of people around."

Tseng—and Rude behind his glasses, Auryn was sure—blinked at him slowly in surprise, then chuckled faintly. "I hear your little Summon, the one called Carbuncle, calls them 'dimensions', rather than any other option we've used to date."

The words caused him a spike of fear as he asked warily, "Are you getting at something in particular?" If they had found out, then any protection was irrelevant and he'd be tossed out, or worse, they'd torture him for 'lying' to them—

"Auryn, from what I've heard through the other Guards, Carbuncle _also_ told them Deepground exists without doubt. And from my recent work with the Hounds, especially meetings I've been attending with Verdot lately, they _are_ a danger to you, or will be soon if they aren't yet."

"...Why...?" Auryn asked tiredly, though he had a feeling he already knew.

"Because—and I think you know this by your reaction to the news—the President wants some degree of control over you, and if Hojo is pointedly not giving it, he'll have to get it another way. His best means to do that is through Deepground."

Rude suddenly sighed and cut in with, "Stop talking _here_."

"Why?" Tseng blinked. In reply, Rude pointed at a table a few away, where a few men and women with a red haired teenaged girl and a white haired teenaged boy were sitting. They seemed to be oddly out of place there, though Tseng couldn't pinpoint what seemed wrong with them.

The question was answered for them as Auryn saw the group, tensed, and whispered, barely moving his mouth, "Weiss and Rosso are the ones with white and red hair...That means the others are members of Deepgound, too."

Both blinked at him in surprise, and Tseng asked, "Why are Weiss and Rosso notable?"

"They're...Weiss is their leader...Would be if the Restrictors weren't there to keep control of them. Rosso is one of the Tsviets, the commanders under Weiss," the blond explained softly and cautiously.

"What are they doing _here_?" Rude asked, clearly unsettled.

Pausing for a moment, Auryn thought about that, since it was _very_ rare. Then he realized, the few other times it had happened had been... "Acclimatization so they can behave normally in front of the people at large. Usually, that means two things—the President and the Restrictors feel they have them completely controlled, and the President won't wait much longer before putting them to open use. And I can't stay here with them so nearby, so unless they leave soon, we'll _have_ to."

The two Turks traded looks as their meals were put on the table for them.


	48. 47-Another Step Towards Edward

Another Step Towards Edward

Since their meals had just been placed on the table, Tseng started on his and Auryn picked at the nearest portion of food on his plate. Meanwhile, Rude pulled out his PHS and kept it under the table where it wouldn't be noticed.

It didn't take long for Auryn to say quietly, "I have to leave..."

"No, you don't," Tseng replied evenly, keeping his voice low so it was unlikely to be heard beyond their table. "Leaving now will attract attention, which you don't want to do. Them trying to take you just now will also attract unwanted attention, making it likely they won't try at this point if this _is_ intended to be 'acclimatization'. If they had been instructed to capture you, they wouldn't be sitting at a table here and eating. As far as I know, they also arrived here _before_ us, and this was a spur-of-the-moment decision on our parts, so they couldn't possibly have planned for this. Don't make a scene and nothing will happen."

"Not now, anyway," Rude answered in the same soft voice, putting away his PHS.

"What did you just do?" Tseng asked him in bemusement.

"Texted Sephiroth," Rude replied. "He's coming. With Rufus."

"Did they give you an ETA?" the Wutain asked with a raised brow.

"About five minutes," the older Turk replied, causing the younger one's brow to rise even higher in surprise.

"I guess they were finished their meal and had come to this area for something," Tseng mused. He then looked at Auryn, who was blinking at the two Turks in surprise, and asked the blond, "So, how will having Sephiroth and Rufus with us change the dynamic of this situation?"

"Um...They probably just won't risk starting anything with Rufus here, honestly," Auryn had to admit. As much as Rufus had very frequently pissed off his father by going against him, the man only had one 'legitimate' heir, so he really preferred Rufus survive, and Deepground had orders not to harm Rufus in any way. He was suddenly thankful that was a universal state of affairs.

"Good. Then start eating properly," Tseng replied in amusement. As Auryn did, the Wutain asked curiously, "Could any of them be salvaged if they're so controlled?"

After a pause to struggle against the instinctive 'don't tell!' ingrained reaction he always had these days, he began explaining, "They're never as 'controlled' as anyone thinks—the members of Deepground actually work _against_ the Restrictors. The problem they have is the mind control chips implanted in them, which can only be activated and used by the Restrictors. Those are in a primitive state normally and not very effective at this point in time, but with Lady Shinra's presence, he probably put more focus on trying to improve them, hence this so early on."

Auryn paused, then sighed and said, "Theoretically, the only reason the President has control of them is because the four Restrictors are loyal to him, and they hold the control switch for all the members. Killing the Restrictors leaves Deepground without controls. Because they're a group of largely psychotic mass murderers by training, that causes us more of a problem, rather than less, because there are a very small number of them who are still 'sane'—Weiss in most cases, though it's not universal, Argento, and about two dozen people she keeps tabs on while they wait for a chance to escape."

"She?" Rude asked in puzzlement.

The blond froze for a moment as he looked up and Weiss' curious gaze met his, then Auryn blinked as Sephiroth paused beside the white haired boy and leaned down to say something to him. Weiss looked up at the SOLDIER General in surprise, then gave a short reply, apparently an affirmative, and Sephiroth made his way back to Rufus' side as the older blond was approaching their table. The entire process had looked completely and utterly _casual_ and not at all out of place.

"So, how are things here?" Rufus asked as he pulled out another of the seats at the table and sat, followed by Sephiroth doing the same.

"So far, so good," Tseng answered. "Thank you for coming, Rufus."

The Shinra heir nodded, then looked over at Auryn and commented, "It's been awhile since we last met. It's good to see you out and about, certain company aside. What were you just discussing here?"

"Argento and a 'she'," Rude answered in a mild tone.

"Who?" Rufus asked in puzzlement.

"Argento is a Wutain woman named Mai Kagawa who was taken off the battlefield when badly injured," Auryn sighed faintly. "I guess that was about three years ago? They've registered her as dead in their records, and I think she's actually more powerful than Weiss, but she makes a habit of hiding her true skills so completely that she can't be labeled as anything more than a Tsviet. She's the only one in Deepground who has _always_ been sane, and she's the 'she' I meant."

"I guess there's a first time for everything," Tseng shrugged. "Since you seem to be getting a lot of 'firsts' this time through."

"I don't think Argento's nature in that regard would ever change," the younger blond answered with a small shake of the head. "What happened between you and Weiss, Sephiroth?" he asked of the silver haired man nervously.

"I warned him and his not to try anything, and he replied that they weren't planning to," the SOLDIER answered evenly. "As far as I could tell, they don't mean to act at this point, but they have a definite interest in you. Now, I've been wondering for some time why your infusions apparently 'turn on and off', more like a switch than something you always have by default."

Auryn blinked at the abrupt change in topic, but before he could answer, Vincent asked tiredly, "What are you all doing here?" They looked up at him, seeing Kariya—who also looked oddly tired—staring at them in puzzled apprehension as Vincent himself just looked resigned. One of the black haired man's eyes suddenly shut like he felt a sharp pain, then opened again as he met Auryn's gaze and commented, "Chaos wanted me to tell you 'It's about time you got that fixed.' He didn't specify the 'what' he meant, though."

Auryn had to give a faint snort of amusement and replied, "I'm surprised he even knows there was something _to fix_."

"Back to the first question, why are you here?" Kariya asked. "'Cause as far as any of us knows, any time Rufus and Sephiroth go into town together for a meal, _this_ isn't the sort of venue they go to..."

"We're just an extra precaution against the group a few tables over, who happen to be Deepgound lackeys," Rufus replied. "Though, I'm also curious about the difference in how the Mako in your body works compared to SOLDIER, Auryn," the older blond added as he turned back to the younger blond across from him.

At the return to Sephiroth's topic, Auryn sighed faintly and wondered why he didn't feel like he had to hide information no one had ever actually asked for before. Regardless, he explained, "Natural Mako tends to 'react' rather than 'just be' the way manufactured Mako does. The sludge from the Reactors, which is where your Mako infusions come from in SOLDIER, is a variant of Mako which has had some of its natural energy taken out of it, while natural Mako has all its proper components—hence why it looks more like water. The difference in the two energy alignments causes the difference in the reaction the Mako has in the body. Mine, being natural, flows in a kind of cycle which does its own thing, and doesn't over-strain the system when the system doesn't need to be over-strained. It's also why I normally don't have to eat any more than any ordinary person, I only need to eat more when I've actively _used_ my enhancements. Turning them on by force is difficult, though, so usually, they need something to react _to_—a danger, some kind of damage, or so on."

"Intriguing," Sephiroth murmured, gaze thoughtful.

"Since you're here, I thought of something earlier which I wondered if you could clarify," Rufus said to Auryn, leaning over a bit to be at eye level with him. When the younger blond blinked, he said, "Sephiroth and I had been discussing Chaos and Omega Theory and the LOVELESS Act Three introduction poem suddenly came to my mind. Am I on the right track or just imagining the tie-in?"

First, Auryn's brain broke as he tipped his head to the side and just _stared_ at Rufus for a moment. Then, he began giggling faintly, still trying to process the leap of logic _Rufus_ had just made, one _everyone_ had _always_ needed spelled out to them before. Finally, seeing their collective startled, worried expressions, he said, "I'm honestly _shocked_ someone figured that out without me spelling it out. If training you like a Turk makes you _this_ able, it should be done _a lot_ more often."

The others blinked and traded startled looks, then Rufus replied, "So what does the line about the 'war of the beasts' refer to?"

"Things like Chaos and Zirconaide fighting and-or destroying everything to return the planet's energy to the Lifestream so it can rejoin the Omega body before it leaves. The poem actually largely chronicles Jenova's arrival here," Auryn explained. "So those would refer to Jenova's versions of those beings fighting against Minerva's. Unfortunately, Jenova arrived here three quarters insane."

"Then Jenova is indeed another planetary sentience?" Sephiroth blinked in surprise.

"She is," Auryn agreed.

"Should we be destroying her, then?" Rufus asked with a small frown.

"Yes, and Minerva always has a plan about that, assuming Jenova can be weakened enough for it to work," the younger blond agreed. "She's not yet, because her 'body' still hasn't been destroyed."

"Okay, is there a reason we're all publicly discussing private matters?" Kariya suddenly sighed into the silence Auryn's answer had left.

The others blinked, then chuckled.

By then, Auryn had eaten most of his food and a look at the table where Weiss and Rosso had been sitting showed it was empty, so Tseng commented, "Looks like they've left, so we could stay awhile longer or leave."

"There aren't enough seats for all of us, so we would be better off heading out," Rufus replied. "Besides, since we've already eaten, trying to eat more won't go over well." At the last comment, he indicated himself and Sephiroth.

"We'll join you to head back to the building, then," Vincent agreed, and Tseng, Rude, and Auryn began rising. Tseng went to pay the bill, then the group could head out.

The group was walking down the street towards the parking garage where Tseng had left his car with Rufus and Auryn effectively surrounded by Sephiroth and the other Turks. Auryn had a feeling something was wrong, and at a warning from the Lifestream, he tensed and stopped, causing the others to do so as well.

They all faced him, and he managed to get out, "_Something is wrong_!"

All of them went on alert, scanning the street around them for something out of place, and a moment later, Sephiroth thundered, "_Get down_!" His voice carried up and down the street as everyone instinctively began ducking and diving for cover, Rufus by dragging Auryn to the nearest alley for shelter. Only a moment later, a '_boom_' sounded not far from them as the street shook and debris was blown in all directions. It was the older blond who shielded Auryn from harm (wasn't _that_ just a peculiar switch from the norm?), so he took no damage and barely felt the shock wave. There was a lot of screaming and chaos out on the street, but they were currently out of the way, so Rufus sat back from him cautiously, shaking some bits of ash and other things off himself.

Something drew Auryn's eyes to the side and further into the alley—and he froze as he saw the leader of the Restrictors standing several feet away. In his black uniform, none of his features were visible, but he wore an emblem the other three Restrictors didn't—an emblem Auryn had painfully learned the meaning of. Rufus saw the younger blond freeze, so followed his gaze to the Restrictor. Shoving himself to his feet, the older blond put himself between Auryn and the other man in all black.

"_Who_ are _you_?" Rufus asked imperiously.

"Step aside, Shinra heir," the Restrictor replied. "We have no business with you, only with the one behind you."

"You didn't answer my question," the older blond sneered, showing no signs of moving, and Auryn was still frozen in place.

"Your question is irrelevant. Step aside," the older man replied, that time in a warning tone.

"Oh, are you the one who caused all the chaos on the street just now?" Rufus asked suddenly, and Auryn had to wonder about that one, himself.

The Restrictor smirked and replied, "As much as I wish we could claim that chaos, it was merely convenient timing, and an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Step aside so I can claim that boy behind you."

"You'll forgive me for refusing, of course," the Shinra heir bit out coldly, stance changing to one braced for combat. "He stays with me. There is no alternative."

"Are you sure?" the Restrictor's smirk widened as Weiss and Rosso joined him from further in the alley, weapons drawn. Weiss looked almost resigned, while Rosso was grinning eagerly. If it was Weiss, Rosso, _and_ a Restrictor against just Rufus, that was very, very bad, and Auryn knew it.

But, there had been _just once_ he'd found out something he should not have found out, and it had shocked the Hell out of him to realize a name Verdot—Veld—had 'made up' had actually belonged to another man long before then. Auryn was sure they'd get some very interesting results from him calling the man by name, because no one actively knew how much _he knew_. At the very least, it would give them much-needed time to come up with another plan—if he could just force himself past the panic!

As Rosso was stepping forward, Auryn forced out, "This isn't the time, Veld."

The Restrictor drew in a sharp, shocked breath as Rufus stiffened, Rosso stopped in surprise, and Weiss blinked with a lack of comprehension. At the same time, Auryn pleaded with the Lifestream and Minerva for something, anything, he could use to make them back down just now—and the Lifestream was nice enough to associate the incident on the street just then with AVALANCHE. It would work, and possibly even give them a temporary additional buffer against AVALANCHE's attacks on the city.

After a pause, the Restrictor asked harshly, "_Why do you know that name_?"

"You _do_ realize Fuhito and AVALANCHE are going to destroy Midgar, Shinra, and the world if they aren't stopped, don't you?" Auryn managed to force out.

Right at that moment, like it was punctuating his words, another bomb and more screaming sounded from the street.

Weiss faced the Restrictor and said, "Requesting permission to intervene in the situation on the street. Tactically, this will show us in a good light to the people at large, and our current target doesn't have critical status. We'll have another chance to retrieve him, while it's unlikely this situation will present itself again."

Momentary silence broken only by the din of noise from the street followed, then the Restrictor answered, "Granted. You and Rosso are simply combat-trained civilians who happened to be caught in the mess, so thought to help bring it to a close. Behave on friendly terms with civilians and return to me when things have settled down."

"Understood," Weiss and Rosso both stated, then headed for the street, bypassing both Rufus and Auryn.

There was a long moment of silence again as the Restrictor eyed the pair of blonds, then the man in black turned and walked away.

Several moments passed as they waited for the man to be gone, then Rufus spun to face Auryn and ask harshly, "_What_ in Ramuh's name _was that_, Auryn?"

At the harsh address, Auryn flinched and curled in on himself, shaking as he realized he'd crossed a line, and now the worst would happen. His mind blanked as he tried desperately to prepare himself for the blows, the torture, to come...

FoWD

Awareness returned to Auryn as he jolted violently, expecting to be bound—only to find his limbs flailing as he slipped off whatever he'd been laying on and hit the ground on his back. He went still and curled up on his side and around his chest, struggling to get his breath back after the fall had knocked it all from his lungs.

A familiar voice said both gently and tiredly, "I'm sorry, Auryn...I should have put the sides up just in case you came back to us with the fear still in play."

...Wasn't that Lucrecia's voice? Wait, what 'sides' did she mean?

Why wasn't he bound? Why wasn't he in pain (besides what his unexpected fall had just caused him)?

Slowly, he opened his eyes, scanning the area he could see—nothing, really, besides a cold, tile floor and a blank, white wall. A sound drew his gaze to the side a bit, and he saw Lucrecia as she crouched there, holding a hand out to him in offering to help him up.

There was no bad feeling in her gaze, just worry for his well-being.

Hadn't Rufus told her what had happened with the people from Deepground?

Slowly, now that his breath was back, he reached up to take her hand and let her help him up, shocked the hand wasn't being withdrawn. She turned him around, which also let him see the rest of the room—a hospital room with a hospital bed—then helped him get back into the bed and raised the sidebars.

There were no traces of any kind of binding, and the sidebars were easy enough to bypass, they just greatly reduced the risk of falling out of bed accidentally.

Before she could leave the room, he asked faintly, "Why?"

Pausing and turning back to him with a puzzled expression, Lucrecia asked, "Why what, Auryn?"

"The Restrictor, Veld, Weiss, Rosso, _Rufus_—" Some part of him knew he wasn't making any sense, but he couldn't seem to formulate a sentence just then.

"Auryn," she cut him off, sounding more resigned than anything. When he stopped listing words he thought would eventually explain things, she went on, "No one is going to torture you for shocking the Hellfire out of them." He blinked slowly, and she elaborated, "You openly admitted one of the Restrictors is named Veld, and that you know the name—a name even the Restrictor in question had no idea why you knew. Rufus had no intention of harming you, but his reaction to the revelation after the stress of the incident caused him to react with more feeling than he normally does to things. The question wasn't unreasonable, he just emotionally charged it more than necessary. He's been miserable since he realized he caused you an extreme panic with no way to bring it under control."

Processing that was difficult, so he looked down at his hands and arms—then lifted them to look more closely when he saw no cuts, burns, scrapes, or bruises. That was when he recalled the fact that he felt no pain.

No pain.

No binds.

No anger.

No prison.

No torture.

Something in his mind shifted and tilted, and it almost felt like something _settled into place_ as he breathed out a deep gust of air.

His gaze lifted back to Lucrecia's as he realized _nothing had changed_. This time, they had kept their word.

"Auryn?" she asked him cautiously. "Are you all right?"

He paused, hesitated for a moment longer, then said softly, "Edward. Or Ed."

Blinking at him in surprise, she asked, "Are you giving us your real name so we can call you by it?"

"I...don't know how I'll handle it yet..." he began haltingly. "But yes."

Lucrecia smiled. "Edward, then."

He tipped his head to the side as he waited for the reaction he normally felt to being called by his own name—only to find the only thing he felt was lingering nervousness. Slowly, he gave a faint smile and said, "Yeah."

"Good, I'll let the others know while you're here recovering," she said, still smiling. "You've been out of it for a little over two days, so we've given you a room in the Hospital Wing. I think you should only need a couple more to recover enough to go back to your own apartment. For right now, I'll bring you a meal and let you rest some more before I tell the others you're awake—I'd rather they _not_ swamp you just now."

Aur—Ed smiled faintly with amusement as he admitted, "I'm pretty sure I'd appreciate that, too, just now."

She chuckled and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes, then." With that, she stepped out of the hospital room.

Since he had the time to himself, Aur—Edward thought about how it almost felt surreal to go back to using his own name, especially after what had felt like so long. In reality, though, it had only been a few months, and something had already intrinsically shifted enough for him to realize this one was different. Before, what had happened with the Restrictor and Rufus would have caused him to be waking a prisoner and suffering. Well, many prior things would have resulted in that, but the breaking point would have been that kind of reaction from someone. This time, it hadn't.

Edward. Edward Elric.

He felt more like himself than he had in a long time.

Maybe it wasn't all just going to be 'better' right away, but he recognized the shift in himself for what it was—he'd managed to take a rather large step towards healing, and had done it shockingly quickly after all his previous experiences.

For the first time in a long time, Ed felt like he had a reason to move forward.


	49. 48-Reconciliation

**A/N:** Edward is back from now on! Though, some people are still going to instinctively call him Auryn (or start to) at times because that was the first name they had for him, or may not know of his switch back to his own name.

Reconciliation

It was pretty late in the evening when Ed heard a light knock on the door frame of his hospital room, making him look up in surprise—only to see Genesis. The other man was dressed like he was, in the white shirt and pants which was normal hospital attire for non-intensive care patients. What surprised him was why in the world the man was at the door to his room, since Genesis shouldn't even have known he was in the hospital. Not to mention, why would he want to visit him? They barely knew each other in this dimension.

Before he could say anything, the other man gave a wry smile and commented, "I'm bored out of my mind, and Shelke's not around to keep me entertained. Mind if I come in?"

The words caused Ed to give an amused snort, but he said, "I guess. How do you even know I'm here?"

"Kariya," Genesis replied, like it explained everything. In a way, Auryn reflected, it did, since not only was the man his usual minder, but he had been there during the chaos on the street. The red haired SOLDIER went on quickly, asking, "Do you mind if I ask you about something?"

"Depends on the something..." Ed replied warily.

"Do you actually have experience dealing with that—strange state of mine?" Genesis asked rather bluntly.

The question was a loaded one, so the blond sighed faintly and assessed what he wanted to reply with. Finally, he said, "Any of the times that happened before, I wasn't able to stop it. Once, that's because I wasn't in the city. The other three times, I didn't know _how_ to stop it, so even though I was there..."

"You just witnessed the destruction," Genesis blinked. He moved over to the seat in the room and sat, gaze thoughtful. "How _did_ you stop it? What was different between this time and the others before this?"

"My knowledge base, and Ifalna's survival," the blond answered in amusement, knowing the words would just confuse the other man more. When he saw the puzzled look on Genesis' face, he explained, "There was a girl being kept in the Labs here until several years ago, when her birth mother had finally had enough of waiting and effectively kidnapped her daughter back. Ifalna is the girl's mother. She's also a powerful, natural healer, but not so much for the physical body as for energies within a person's body. She had never been alive in any of the scenarios to have used her abilities on me before, so in this one, when she did—it broadened my understanding of the body and energy greatly. It was that knowledge I was using to get to you, and to stop your burnout."

Genesis stared at him for a long minute, then said, "I see. I have to thank you for that...I still feel like they're being too lenient with me after that. By all rights, I should be locked away somewhere so I can't hurt anyone else..."

The words made Ed blink, first with a lack of comprehension, then with incredulity. "You're an idiot," he said bluntly. Then, he saw Genesis' shocked expression and realized what he'd just said, resulting in a flinch as he couldn't quite stop the fear reaction.

"Auryn, stop it," Genesis cut in, sighing faintly. "I'm _really_ not in a state of mind to be able to drag you out of a panic attack over nothing. Though, I would appreciate you explaining why you think I'm an idiot."

The blond again found himself blinking at the other man as he processed the words, coming down off the sudden panic spike as he did. Finally, he said, "Ed."

"What?" the red haired man asked blankly.

"My real name is Edward Elric. Besides Doctor Crescent, you're the first to know that," Ed replied.

"Okay," the SOLDIER agreed genially. "And the 'idiot' part, Ed?"

After a moment of silence to assess Genesis' state and his reply, he told the older man quietly, "Maybe you haven't realized this, but what you did is something you could do at _any_ time, not just when you've lost control of yourself and are in burnout." Genesis' eyes widened in alarm, causing Ed to sigh in exasperation and ask, "Did you seriously never realize what your results with Flare or your ability to allow Fire and Ice to co-exist in the same space _meant_?"

"...Wait, what?" the red haired man asked, alarm morphing to amazement.

"Yeah. Any skilled Mage, especially one trained and enhanced to increase their damage ratio, has that kind of energy output," Ed explained dryly. "You and I are just obvious examples, but there are a lot of others who could, with the right training. It's _not about_ the fact that you 'could' cause so much damage, it's about whether or not you'll do it wantonly. The fact that you think you should be locked away as a danger to society _also_ means you're going to make sure to check your power output so you _don't_ create destruction you don't intend to. Which, by the way, you were _already doing_. You're no more dangerous now than you were before, you're just more aware of the danger now."

"Is that still true if you know someone else got into my head and took control of me, causing that burnout state?" Genesis questioned carefully.

"Let me guess—Jenova?" the blond asked tiredly, and when Genesis blinked in surprise, he said, "Now that you know about her, she can't. Mostly because you won't let her...Will you?"

"Not if I have any say in the matter."

"Newsflash, Genesis—it's _your_ mind, and it's _your_ body, meaning _you_ have the advantage in that, her cells aside. She can only have the power over you which you choose to give her. Especially since you don't have the conditioning which would allow her a back door into your mind."

"How do you know I don't?"

"You never dealt with Hojo."

After a long silence, Genesis began chuckling, then gave his head a shake and admitted, "You have me there. Fine, your turn."

"My...turn?" Ed blinked in confusion.

"I told you, I'm bored. Since we exhausted the previous topic—I think so, anyway—it's your turn to pick something for us to talk about," the red haired man explained in amusement.

Ed gave an amused smile in reply, thinking about what they could talk about—then remembered Doriss and the spikes she'd given him. "A friend gave me a very unusual weapon which apparently self-applies poison—very strong, fast-acting poison. I can't use the weapon because I'm afraid I'll poison friends, not just enemies or attackers, so I need to figure out how to make it intent-based. Ideas?"

"Well, that's quite a topic change," Genesis grinned, but leaned forward, the interest clear in his eyes. "I'm guessing you're looking at magic in some form, because I don't know of any technology which can tell intent. Well, other than Reeve's Cait Siths, but that requires an A.I., and I don't think you could do that to an actual weapon, only to a robot which was going to _use_ a weapon."

"Yeah, that's pretty much the basis for it," the blond agreed.

"I don't know anything off the top of my head, but my exclusion arrays might be a good starting point, and it would just be a matter of modifying them to assess intent rather than excluding an elemental interaction by default," the SOLDIER offered.

"That's some pretty heavy modification, but we might be able to use some of the arrays from the Elemental and Added Effect Materias..." Ed mused thoughtfully.

"Why them?" Genesis blinked in surprise.

"Because they have a form of assessment in both what type of gear they're in and in which property—an element or status effect—they need to apply," the younger of the two returned in a dry tone.

"Oh, that's a brilliant starting point!" Genesis grinned. "Okay, let me get some paper and a pen from my room, and we can get started!" He quickly rose and left the room, leaving Ed feeling both bemused and thankful to have _this_ version of Genesis back after so long. The man had always been a certain degree of creative and curious, but only rarely so...willingly and exuberantly in a frame of mind to help him just to see if it could be done.

And, of course, working on alchemy was _always_ good for him.

FoWD

"Rufus, stop pouting..." Janelle tiredly told her son as the eighteen-year-old sat in the corner of her office, staring blankly out the window while he ran the incident with Deepground and Auryn through his mind over and over again.

Her words startled him out of his thoughts as he noted it had gone from early morning to shortly after the work day had begun, so he looked at her and asked, "What was that, Mother?"

She literally sighed as she replied, "Accidents happen, and no one really faults you for your reaction in the moment, unintended results aside. Stop—pouting and moping around. Besides, Lucrecia just called to tell me Auryn has woken and is fit to see us. And apparently, what you did—and what all of us _didn't_ do—has caused him to let us use his real name again, so we can now call him Edward, or just Ed."

Rufus blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment, then his eyes widened in surprise and he asked, "How? After I caused him a panic attack so powerful he passed out—!"

The older woman rose from her seat and used her cane to walk around the desk and in the direction of the door, Carbuncle jumping to her shoulder as she did, pausing to smile in vague amusement at her son. "We didn't torture him, regardless of your immediate emotional reaction, which apparently always previously led to torture for him. As such, he's starting to believe we really mean we won't take such actions." She was interrupted by an impressed, '_ooooh_,' from Carbuncle, then went on, "Now come. You'll be able to give him that apology you've been wanting to."

"_Too true_!" Carbuncle grinned at Rufus teasingly, ears wagging happily.

Sending Carbuncle an annoyed look, the blond rose to follow his mother from the room, the trio quickly making their way to the hospital wing. As they were in the elevator descending towards the lower floors, Tseng joined them with several file folders in his arms, giving them both a nod and smile.

"Thank you for the warning about the remodeling of the area the Commander damaged, Tseng," Lady Shinra told him.

"You had some plans to add to it?" he asked genially.

"Yes, in fact," she replied with a smile. "Though my husband doesn't know it because we went through Hojo and Scarlet. The Turks and SOLDIERs are going to be getting their own cafeteria independent of the one the rest of the company uses. Until Commander Hewley and Ansha can train a few others to prepare tailored meals for the combat forces we rely on, they'll be doing most of the cooking. We even already have their first trainee in the works."

"How's that?" the Wutain asked in honest surprise.

"I didn't get that update, either," Rufus added dryly. While he wasn't normally one to share data with 'Hounds', not only was Tseng not entirely one of them, but this was actually something all the Turks, and all the SOLDIERs, would need to know, and soon.

The elevator arrived at the Turks' floor, where Emma stepped onto it, gazing at the video tape she had in her hand in annoyance. She then blinked at the three in surprise and shot Tseng a questioning look.

He gave her an amused look and asked Lady Shinra, "So, how does our new cafeteria—which isn't even _built_ yet—already have a trainee?"

"We did some checking at a comment Auryn made to Ansha, and it turns out the Nibelheim Reactor Foreman's daughter has a passion for cooking. In Nibelheim, that's pretty much a dead-end skill, but since her family is already affiliated with Shinra, it's rather simple to have her brought here to capitalize on her existing skills and passion. Also, with her being only thirteen, this is a job she can do for us which won't put her in undue danger, so her father is in agreement. I have a pair on their way to pick her up as of this morning."

"That's impressive timing," Tseng chuckled.

"_What_ 'new' cafeteria?" Emma asked in confusion.

"Since Commander Rhapsodos damaged one of the SOLDIER and Turk training floors and some Cadets put the usual cafeteria out of order, remodeling was needed, and both Hojo and Scarlet are eager to see a cafeteria specific to SOLDIER and the Turks," Lady Shinra explained genially. "For Scarlet, that means what happened to the Commander likely won't happen again, and for Hojo, it means easier tailoring to the needs of his program specimens, which in turn will increase efficiency. One of the major benefits is that Cadets and Infantry can't use it unless specifically invited time by time. We as the Guards have largely been left to the search for chefs, though my husband demanded the right to approve my choices. He was willing to approve Miss Lockhart because of who her father is, though for my purposes, I'd like the chefs to be neutral to the two factions."

Emma blinked, then blinked again and said with a grin, "Well, it's about time! Talk about a blessing in disguise!"

"Especially since you helped the floor cave in the next day..." Tseng replied in amusement, making her blush hotly as both Shinras gave amused, exasperated sighs. They had reached Emma's floor (the SOLDIER Director's) by then, so when the elevator stopped, she stepped off with a wave to Tseng, who gave her a nod in reply.

When the door closed, Lady Shinra said, "So you're aware, Auryn has returned to using his proper name. I trust you remember it, Tseng?"

"I was the one to first hear it, so yes," Tseng smiled. "I'd heard he was in the hospital, but I've had blessed little time to check in since that day. Is he okay?"

"Recovering, but well otherwise," the woman replied. "In the current situation, I won't give you details—if he wants you to have them, he'll tell you himself. I _will_ warn you that it looks like Deepground has him on the retrieval list since you were _busy_ when Rufus was able to affirm that fact." It was true, as he'd had to deal with AVALANCHE and the resulting damage control in the area alongside Vincent.

Tseng sighed tiredly and nodded. "I was afraid that might happen after Genesis' burnout..."

"To be fair, we _all_ were," Rufus agreed. "Especially after Carbuncle affirmed Deepground's existence. Letting them know we're aware of them may not have been the best move, but what's done is done."

"That's certainly true," Tseng agreed, and Janelle nodded.

Soon after, they had reached their floors and disembarked, Tseng at the archives floor directly above the two Hospital Wing floors. It didn't take long for them to reach Auryn's—now Edward's—room, where both Rufus and Lady Shinra had to stare in surprise at the mess of papers scattered around the bed, most with drawings and/or notes on them.

Carbuncle, on the other hand, laughed and flew over to land on the younger blond's head, chirping, "_It's good to see you creating like this again, Ed_!"

The younger man froze for a moment, then asked in alarm, "Why are you _here_ instead of with Lady Shinra, Carbuncle?"

"_I _am_ with Lady Shinra_. _She's at the door_," Carbuncle replied in amusement.

Aur—Ed's gaze lifted to the door and met hers, causing him to blink in surprise, but when he saw Rufus there as well, he became a little nervous and uncertain. That saddened Rufus, and he stepped forward to say, "I _am_ sorry for how badly I scared you. You shocked me with what you said, but I had only been wanting an explanation, not to harm you. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind."

For a long moment, Aur—Ed just stared at him, then finally released a sigh and said, "I'm still getting used to that, but...what made all the difference was waking up in the hospital without the binds or pain I'd normally have been in after similar reactions. Did Doctor Crescent tell you I've switched—er, back, I guess—to my real name?"

"The name Edward," Rufus agreed. "It'll take some getting used to, so we may still call you Auryn at times. Do you prefer Edward or just Ed?"

"...Whichever, honestly," the younger blond shrugged.

"Very well," Lady Shinra smiled faintly. "I haven't got much time just now, but Rufus will be able to stay with you as company for awhile. It's good to see you looking better, and I should have more time to stay and talk later today, when I scheduled some time to be out of my office, regardless. I'll see you then."

"Sure..." Edward agreed, and she gave a nod and left, Carbuncle quickly hopping after her, as Rufus pulled out a chair to sit.

"So...What's all this?" Rufus asked curiously, and Ed blinked, then smiled and began explaining, remembering to keep it to the basics.

FoWD

Genesis was sitting in his bed in the Hospital Wing, working on more of the arrays Ed had presented him with the day before. While he had been in the hospital before, he had rarely needed to stay so long...Rarely? Never, since he'd gotten his SOLDIER enhancements. And especially not when he felt absolutely fine. He was beginning to wonder what the problem was.

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice at the door asking in puzzlement, "What's all that?" Looking up, the red haired man saw...Sephiroth?

"Is there something I can do for you, General?" the red haired man asked cordially, knowing the silver haired one didn't like him much.

For a long moment, the younger man just eyed him, almost like he was trying to work out a puzzle, but then he asked, "Have you tried calling your wings back yet?"

"You mean the ones from my burnout, which I hadn't even known I _had_ until Doctor Crescent told me I'd grown them?" Genesis asked in reply, tone dry. Sephiroth blinked, but nodded, so he went on, "I've been in the hospital since then, so I haven't really had a chance to do anything with them." He then looked away and added, "I've mostly been avoiding even thinking about them, actually. It's one thing to be called a 'freak', but to actually _be_ one is a little different..."

"So by your definition, I'm a freak because I have them, too?" Sephiroth asked in annoyance.

To his surprise, the other man made a motion like a flinch, and gave his head a shake. "No, that's specific to me."

There was another long silence before the silver haired man asked, "How can _that_ be specific to you when you aren't the only one who has them?"

"The 'freak' part, not the 'wings' part." Genesis was actually getting annoyed (and somewhat afraid, though he'd never willingly admit to that), and asked sharply, "What is this, twenty questions? You don't actually know anything about me, or about my life. You don't like me, and I know that, so why are you bothering to subject yourself to my presence? Really, if all you're going to do is grill me about things which really aren't your business, please leave."

Sephiroth's eyes widened for a moment, then he pulled out the chair near the bed and sat, asking, "Do you have _any idea_ how useful aerial scouting, patrols, and combat can be? Especially when you have a maneuverability in the air which no plane or airship can match?"

It took the older man a moment to process the questions, but then he blinked and looked at the other man warily to say, "I really only have a guess, but I would think it would be highly useful."

"Yes, and you now have exactly that," Sephiroth pointed out. Genesis blinked again, but the other man went on, "I know we normally don't get along, but I've been using my wings to my advantage for a few years already. Rather than trying to shy away from them or learn what they can do on the fly, I'd like to help you prepare to use them properly, so you know how _before_ you need them. Are you willing to do so? I'm guessing by your 'freak' comment that we first have to make you view them as a part of you which is simply natural."

"Are they?" Genesis asked with a derisive snort. "Humans don't grow wings."

"You and I are only _half_ human, Commander," the silver haired man shrugged. "We're also half planetary being. What we can do has a much greater range and variability than any human, all because we have large quantities of Jenova's cells, and she's a planetary essence from another world. It also means our base looks are superficial, and we've never truly fit under the category of purely human. You are no freak, and these wings are a natural part of your genetic make-up. You came to SOLDIER for the power. Why would you shy away from the very power you came here seeking? The only difference is that you need to realize Jenova wants control, too—but you can simply choose not to give it to her. The more you know about those abilities and how _you_ can use them, the less control she can ever gain over you."

The red haired man gaped at him in surprise for a minute, shocked by those words on several levels. It was like Sephiroth was offering him a truce, giving him a peace offering! But one thing he'd said made him ask suspiciously, "Did the Doctor tell you about Jenova helping along my burnout?"

"No," Sephiroth blinked in surprise. "Those are things my mother and I discussed when we learned about my own set of wings. It's honestly shocking the first few times until you get used to them, and even _I_ was disoriented at first. I never went as far as thinking I was a freak or a monster, but everyone reacts to things differently, so maybe that's just your immediate perspective. It gives new meaning to the term 'hypocrite' when you can say 'it's fine if it's someone else, but it's not fine for me'. Even _I_ did it when they first came out, I just got over it faster, probably because my reaction wasn't so instinctively negative. But, because my experience is pretty much the same, I can also say with certainty that your new wings don't define you, _you_ define you."

After a long silence, Genesis sighed and said quietly, "You realize I spent most of my childhood being ignored by my adoptive parents, and they didn't like my magic, or any of the _other_ strange things I did? Shortly before I left, it had eased up a bit, but most of what I knew was that they never wanted me, and that they didn't want to have to deal with a 'freak'. It's really hard not to react to that, no matter what 'logic' you give me. And that's _also_ why it's specific to me, not to you. If they saw me with wings, though, I'm _sure_ they would call me a freak—and mean it—and disown me. In a way, that would be just as well, since—why did they even adopt me if they didn't want me? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Hollander basically didn't give them a choice in the matter, hence my shitty childhood."

The silver haired General leaned back in his seat and tipped his head to the side, then asked, "Is your flamboyancy a defense mechanism against that, to hide it or pretend nothing's wrong?"

"Why does it matter?" the older man asked sharply, not wanting to delve into that.

"Because if you don't resolve that and _let it go_, it's a foothold Jenova may still be able to use to gain control of you. I don't know about you, but I can safely say she's _not_ a fun person to have in the driver's seat," Sephiroth answered evenly. "Also, resolving it will give you greater control over the abilities your genetics give you, like your wings. I won't touch anything else in your past unless you offer it to me, but this part is a must—for _your_ safety and sanity, _and_ for everyone else's."

Genesis couldn't refute the point, so asked, "Have you fallen under her control before?"

"I did," the younger man admitted. "And I vowed I never would again. You?"

For a long moment, the red haired man didn't answer, but then he looked up to meet Sephiroth's gaze. "Never again."

Sephiroth nodded, and for the first time, both men felt like they understood one another.


	50. 49-Anecdotal Evidence

Anecdotal Evidence

Verde was sitting at the table in the Inn in Nibelheim where he had decided to station himself to test everyone under eighteen in the town. Well, more accurately, it had been arranged as a formal test to search for fresh SOLDIER and Turk candidates since they had to head out there to retrieve Miss Lockhart anyway. After all, that was really their only chance to get at Cloud, and maybe someone else in Nibelheim would surprise them, too. The test was for anyone unemployed and generally between fourteen and eighteen and was used by Turks in other branches of their department around the world, so it was feasible to do it in Nibelheim now, after a ten-year gap since the last such test.

Only, in this case, they had stretched the age a little to include twelve and thirteen-year-olds, because honestly, there weren't a lot of people in Nibelheim who fit the test qualifications anyway. There weren't a huge number of children there, and most of them were actually employed or training to take over a job in the town. Adding the extra two years added all of six children to the list, since they didn't need to include Miss Lockhart, who was now technically employed, and by Shinra, too. Instead, the girl was outside the back door of the Inn with Illis, who was doing combat and stamina tests with each of the candidates as Verde finished with them.

They had arrived in Nibelheim in the early morning hours by heading up towards Bone Village and circling east around the Northern Continent, then dropping back to the Rocket Town area and the Nibel Mountains, rather than going west. It hadn't taken long to settle at the Manor on the edge of town, then head to the Mayor's to talk with him about the tests and the plan with his daughter. Seeing Illis with him had obviously relaxed the Mayor, especially when he realized it was the lady Turk, not the man, who would primarily see to Tifa. It hadn't taken long to formalize the test and to collect the data on those in the town who would be participating, and they were now running through the tests in the afternoon.

The boy who had just sat down was around thirteen or fourteen with spiky, blond hair in a short tail, and dressed in a white t-shirt and blue shorts. His bright blue eyes were wary, but also determined, so Verde passed over the first sheet of paper and said, "You'll start with that paper. There will be two others later, along with something a little more practical and a bit of a discussion between us. None are very long, so just do your best. What's your name so I can find the right preliminary sheet from this morning?"

"Cloud Strife," the boy replied, gaze on the paper in front of him.

Verde flipped to the right sheet, where he knew the Mayor had changed some of the data as soon as he glanced at it. Giving an annoyed look at the paper, he pulled out his PHS and dialed the man's number. When the Mayor and Reactor Foreman (Tifa's father) answered, he said in a brittle tone, "From now on, _I don't care_ what your reason is, _do not_ mess with the Turks and our data. You're easily replaceable, Foreman, so _don't_ test us a second time." He then hung up, and noted Cloud looking at him oddly. "Is something wrong?" he asked the boy.

"...Maybe I should be asking that, since things were changed in my data?" Cloud asked tentatively.

With an amused look, the Turk replied, "I don't think he realizes either what our skills encompass or how good our memories are. Yes, some of the data on your sheet has been changed between when we got here and collected these and right now, but I can readily see the changes and what they used to be. For our purposes, you can re-write the data sheet later on a fresh copy. For now, focus on the test."

The boy hesitated, then said slowly, "But depending on what he changed, it might make you turn me down before I've even started."

"It won't," Verde replied, smiling in amusement. "Turks can tell when someone's trying to lie to them as a rule. We don't normally fall for it. What happens here depends entirely on the skills you do, or don't, show me and Illis during the testing."

At the words, the boy brightened and returned to the test with more focus. It was obvious very quickly that Cloud wasn't just writing down the first thing which came to mind, he was thinking it through, which was a good sign. Verde also noticed most of the townspeople, especially the others waiting to take the same test, sneering at the blond boy, most of them in derision. He had to wonder what they would think when they found out answering too quickly virtually guaranteed wrong answers on most of the questions.

While he was working, Cloud suddenly asked, "Is there a time limit to do this by?"

"No. Though I would be worried if you kept me here for the rest of the day to answer questions which don't require complicated answers. The one you're doing right now normally takes the longest for someone who is actively reading them the way you seem to be," he offered. Saying more would give away too much, and even what he'd said already dropped hints—though when saying it to someone already doing the very thing he was talking about normally made it moot. This was also the most interaction he'd gotten from one of the villagers while they were writing the tests, too, which was another point in his favor.

He found himself bemused when the younger blond's lips quirked in amusement as he commented, "No, _reading_ them is more complicated than _answering_ them. Mostly because you have to read every one of them at least twice to make sure you have the right word order, otherwise you'll probably answer it the wrong way."

All he could do was allow himself a light chuckle at the words, which he did, and let the boy keep answering them, as it seemed he was indeed answering them correctly. The test was a series of 'trick' questions made that way by word order—switching even two words in a sentence could completely change the meaning of it, also changing the answer which was needed.

When the boy finished and pushed it back over to him, he quickly scanned the first few answers—they were correct—then looked up at Cloud again to ask, "So, Mr. Strife, even though this test is mandatory, _do_ you want to join Shinra?"

"Cloud, please, and yes," the younger blond quickly offered.

"All right, Cloud, then," Verde agreed. It wasn't unusual for those sixteen and under to ask others to use their given names. "Why do you want to? What are your goals?"

"I actually—want to join SOLDIER. I hope, anyway. I want to be a hero," Cloud told him candidly, not even looking awe-struck or embarrassed.

Tipping his head to the side, Verde asked the first thing that came to mind at the sheer fallacy of logic, "Why do you want to be 'a hero', and why do you think SOLDIER is the way to get there?"

That caused the blond to pause, a ponderous frown coming to his face as he actively assessed the two-fold question. Finally, he said so softly Verde almost couldn't hear him, "Everyone in town hates me just because I'm a Strife. They bully me, I'm always blamed if something goes wrong...I'm just a scapegoat, just _weak_ because I can't stop them. If I can join SOLDIER, I can be strong, just like the Commanders and the General, they won't be able to push me around anymore—and if I can be a hero, they won't be able to look down on me anymore."

Sighing faintly, Verde informed the boy, "That level of idealism in general isn't an uncommon thing in SOLDIER candidates, but your life story _is_. You're not built like a SOLDIER, so unless you're a Mage, you would be better off aiming for the Turks, who use a different skill set entirely from SOLDIER. And take it from me, we can hold our own against, or even kill, SOLDIERs, even without having their enhancements."

"Are you trying to recruit me to the Turks?" Cloud asked in something like amusement. "And what's a Mage?"

"First, a Mage is someone skilled in magic use primarily—Commander Rhapsodos is an example of one at a very high skill level. Most show signs of being one by having created some sort of spell-like casting while still children. The Commander could call fire to him without a Materia in hand, while Lakis—our Mage in the Turks—always got out of trouble by casting things like blind, sleep, or confuse on anyone threatening him. We have a young man in our care right now who can turn the ground below our feet into almost anything, and there's a young girl at the Academy who seems proficient at turning manifested ice into floral shapes which take over a day to melt."

"...Oh. I don't think I've done anything like that," Cloud blinked.

Verde nodded. "It's rare, and it would be one of the few ways someone with your build would make it in SOLDIER. As for trying to recruit you..." he paused and gave an impish grin. "While that somewhat depends on the results of the test, you're going to be recruited by Shinra in some capacity regardless as long as you pass, and the only question then is to which department. You may have more than one choice, depending on your results, but I'm sure when you get to the combat and stamina test, you won't fit the qualifications for SOLDIER—but you _will_ for the Turks."

Cloud actually gaped at him for a moment before saying, "I could surprise you."

"You could—legitimately, since you already have a few times," the blond Turk agreed. "But, would you rather prove your strength without artificial enhancements against even those who have them, or would you rather be a science experiment beholden to Shinra's Science Department for the rest of your natural life?" The boy actually became thoughtful at the words, so he asked, "Overall, what did you think of the first test paper, by the way?"

"It was pretty basic and easy as long as I had the right word order—you weren't asking for anything difficult," the boy answered. "Even my tests at school have harder answers, though the questions are usually a lot easier to read."

"Okay, then the second test is going to be for you to read through some data collected from a few different sources, give a short summary of the important points you read, and answer the questions which follow after the space for the summary," Verde agreed, passing over to him a second sheet of paper with several pieces of data from various sources sitting on top of it. Those were largely photocopies, and even that had a trick to it.

The boy took them to work on them, a ponderous frown on his face again as he read with intensity. One of the provided documents, he first set aside until he finished reading the rest, then went back and re-read the one he'd set aside. For a couple minutes, he just sat there and stared at the last article—then his eyes lit up with recognition and he began writing. Soon after, he'd finished working and pushed everything back over to Verde, who took the data sheets to set aside with his papers and put Cloud's test sheet with the first.

"All right, the next thing I want you to do is the more 'practical' thing," Verde told him, reaching down into the small bag at his side to pull out one of the random boxes inside it—there were several of them. The one he pulled out, he pulled the top off of and pushed over to Cloud. "I want your thoughts on that."

"Even something as inane as 'it's a damaged handgun' or 'it's in really bad shape?'" the younger blond asked in faint amusement, pulling the box closer.

"Anything you feel like saying is fine—as long as it's true, nothing is technically inane. I would be decidedly peeved if you told me something as ridiculous as 'it has purple tentacles growing out of it' when it has no such thing."

The older blond's words startled a laugh out of Cloud, who replied in amusement, "I wouldn't say something like that anyway. Can I pick it up?"

"You _may_, just be careful of the edges around the damage points—some of those are sharp and can cut you," Verde agreed.

The boy carefully lifted the gun out of the box, turning it around in his hands slowly as he began a drifting litany of absently-spoken words, "I think the barrel would need to be replaced since it's split right down the bottom length...The grip, too...Probably the trigger...Did it get blown up from underneath...? Hmm...Why's there a screw on the bottom of the barrel...? Oh, wait, that's probably some sort of attachment, like a scope or silencer or whatever other kinds there are...Um...Why did someone shove a different piece of metal into the slot between the bullets and the barrel...?"

At the last, Verde found the boy meeting his gaze in honest confusion, so he asked in reply, "What is it doing right now, do you think?"

"Keeping the gun from being able to shoot. With it in the way, any bullets in it would just explode inside the gun if someone tried to pull—what's left of the trigger," Cloud answered, and Verde knew Auryn was right about the boy being a natural engineer.

"Did you ever think they put it in the gun for exactly that reason?" Verde asked.

The frown returned to the boy's face for a minute before he asked, "There was something in the gun when it was damaged that they needed to keep it from shooting until they removed it?"

"Yes," the Turk agreed. When Cloud gently set the gun back down in its box, he asked, "All done?" The boy nodded, so Verde passed him the last sheet of paper, then pulled the box back to his side of the table. "In that case, you can write that last test, then head outside for Illis to test you. I'll be in touch tomorrow with the results."

"...Can I get a hint about how well I did so far?" Cloud asked hopefully, starting to work on the paper as Verde put the lid back on the box.

"You already got one earlier," the Turk grinned out-right, causing a blush from the boy. "I don't think you need to worry. You'll make it to Shinra, it just may not be in the way you had been aiming to on your own, all right?"

"...Thanks," the boy agreed. Soon after, he'd finished the last paper and passed it back to the older blond, then left through the back door of the Inn to meet with Illis.

While Verde waited for the next candidate to make his way over—there were still a few women waiting, though they had mostly chosen to get it out of the way quickly so they could get on with their day—he pondered Cloud. Yes, Auryn had _definitely_ sent them after someone _very_ useful, and someone who desperately _needed_ to escape the trap he was in. It was obvious by how his responses and interactions had been that, while he would need some acclimatization to working with others, he did indeed have the necessary skills, likely for all three of his options—SOLDIER, the Turks, and engineering, Weapons in particular. This trip had been worth it for that alone.

The next boy sat down, so he turned his attention to the dark haired fourteen-year-old and began the testing process again.

FoWD

Ed had been working on the new arrays for most of the day, but kept running into dead ends without Genesis' help, so finally gave it up with a sigh—only for a knock on the door to make him look over at Lady Shinra. As she came in and sat, Carbuncle joined them and began flitting around the room as it poked into corners and examined the equipment there. Carefully, he stacked his papers in the order he wanted them, then set them aside and looked up at the woman now sitting in the bedside chair, waiting for her to say what it was she wanted to talk with him about.

"Why do you know one of the Restrictors' names?" she finally asked in a soft tone.

"...One time, I had been taken to Deepground and tortured pretty badly while they tried to figure out what made me tick," the younger blond sighed. "At the _best_ of times, the degree of torture I got in a few hours should have dropped me into unconsciousness, but instead, I stayed hovering between being aware and not. Two of the Restrictors spoke while standing over me, and I could hear them, but I couldn't react, and I heard one call the other their leader, and by the name Veld. I mostly tried to pretend I hadn't heard that, because I also know another Veld...In most of the other dimensions, Verdot was called by the code name Veld. When I asked Doctor Crescent about the name, I had wanted to know if Verdot also had that as his code name in this one, but he didn't, and instead, it forced me to acknowledge the first and most powerful Restrictor—Veld."

"How often have you been in Deepground? That is, as one of their targets, not someone going in there to stop them," Lady Shinra asked, head tipped to the side.

"...Three times only. In that, I guess I've been lucky," Ed admitted. Though, when those times had happened, he definitely had _not_ felt lucky...

"_Definitely!_" Carbuncle chirped from the corner it had wandered into.

"Since we know you _are_ one of their targets now, I think we need to know how to _reach_ them," the woman told him. "The room you're in right now may be defensible, but not enough to keep others from getting in entirely, leaving all too real of a possibility they may be able to kidnap you from it."

Nodding, the blond gave a tired sigh and explained, "Over time, I've found out they actually have three entrances, but one of those takes the same route as the main one, and the other one, only the Restrictors have access to in order to let in large goods shipments. The last is at the base of the central support pillar, and you'd pretty much not be able to break in that way, even knowing its location. The two which follow the same route are from the building lobby and the President's office."

"The lobby?" the woman stared in shock.

He nodded and explained, "At the back of the lobby is that rounded wall everyone takes as decoration. The door is hidden in there. As far as I can tell, that's the main one, though there are apparently some interconnecting, improvised routes through things like sewer systems and maintenance paths. The President's is used by him and the Restrictors, occasionally by others if the President wants something, and it's literally the same lift which goes from the lobby to Deepground—the lift won't go to the President's office without his special key, or the Restrictors' keycode for it."

"And he somehow manages to hide all the comings and goings from _the lobby_'s lift?" she asked incredulously.

"It's not hard for him to plan their entrances and exits for when his own people will be monitoring the cameras, then just tell them to erase any such activity..." Ed had to point out. It was typical President Shinra behavior.

Both were silent for a long moment before Carbuncle jumped onto the bed and said, "_I think you need to tell Ed about what happened with you and Verdot, and what you found out._"

"Edward doesn't need such a burden—" the woman began.

"_Information,_" Carbuncle cut Lady Shinra off. When she just stared at it incredulously, the Summon clarified, "_Ed's mind naturally works at a level way higher than yours and mine _combined_, Lady Shinra. He _needs_ information to find solutions to problems, and this is important information._"

"What about you and Verdot?" the younger blond asked cautiously, wondering what had happened _now_.

After a long silence, the older woman sighed and explained what had taken place with Verdot and the data it had led them to. Knowing it took time to process, she then also diverted the topic to ask, "Have you ever known Mayor Domino to fund terrorists like AVALANCHE?" Carbuncle sighed, but didn't say anything.

"...Mayor...Domino..." Ed mused, pondering what he knew about the man. "You know, that may actually explain how there were times when I never figured out who was funding the terrorists. He's always sort of a blank, just sort of...part of the furniture. He never protests anything, never does anything to stand out—even _Reeve_ does more to stand out than Domino. I always thought that was timidity, but then there were always a few things he did which notably implied he wasn't opposed to working against Shinra."

"So that one is actually a viable possibility we may need to dig deeper into," the woman agreed, sounding resigned.

"What actually happened out on the street the same day we met Deepground in town?" the younger blond suddenly asked.

"AVALANCHE bombed the street as a retaliation for us recovering the shards of Zirconaide before they could," she explained. "I suppose they thought the remains of Sector Six would be easier to damage after the tilting they did with Kariya's bomb, but now that they're flattened out and re-stabilized with the internal beam structure, they're as secure as they ever were. Also, the bombs were much less potent than Kariya's, so the damage was barely a drop in the bucket, and with everyone who ended up there that day—including Weiss and Rosso—they did relatively little harm, and there were no deaths other than a few of their own. The two Deepground leaders seemed to be behaving rather well in public, though."

"If you're asking me if they can be saved, that depends entirely on how far gone their minds actually are," Ed sighed faintly. "It's possible because of how much real humanity Weiss was showing that all of them are in better frames of mind—and I don't mean out on the street, I mean to Rufus and myself in the alley. Rosso just loves a good fight, but that doesn't mean she's completely insane, either—plenty of those in combat forces love a good fight. At sixteen, though, she's usually not salvageable, even if she possibly would have been at thirteen or fourteen. I think it's happened twice in all the times I met the Deepground crew that she, Nero, or Azul could be saved...Weiss and Argento are the normally sane ones."

"If the data you gave the others that day is true, why would Argento hide her skills in a place where they would be highly valued?" Lady Shinra asked.

"_That's 'cause she hates leadership. She's a follower, and even though she can lead small groups for fairly short times, being the kind of leader Weiss or Sephiroth are isn't something she can handle,_" Carbuncle answered, wiggling its ears like it found something funny. "_If she showed her skills in Deepground, she'd become the leader of Deepground, not just a commander alongside the other Tsviets._"

"Is that true?" the bemused woman asked the boy sitting in the hospital bed.

"It is," Ed agreed with a faintly amused sigh. "She's a shockingly good leader, but she would rather walk around nude for the rest of her life than become a leader at that level, and you know what Wutains are like about hiding their bodies..."

"They're practically OCD regarding covering themselves," the woman chuckled, then raised a brow. "How do you know that with such certainty, though?"

When Ed just looked highly uncomfortable and practically _seeped_ embarrassment, Carbuncle filled in, fully amused, "_One of those times while Ed was in Deepground, the two of them fought and shocked everyone with their _actual_ skills. They had no control over Ed since the control chips don't work on him, so they couldn't make _him_ the leader, so they tried to make her do it. She actually _did_ walk around nude for a week, trained nude, everything, just to prove the point, so they finally gave it back to Weiss."_ The creature then began hopping exuberantly in place, ears waving rapidly in its amusement.

"_But, she was pissed with Ed for making her show so much of her real skill that she teased him mercilessly with her nudity for that entire week, and Ed doesn't really react sexually to anything unless he's already close to the person enough that he 'could' fall in love with them. So what she did wasn't really pleasant for him, because she's one of the few friends he has left, so she was getting reactions from him, even though he doesn't think of her that way and doesn't _want_ to._" It stopped hopping and landed on Ed's head at that point, ears still waving.

After a pause to absorb all the new information, the woman burst into laughter, laughing so hard she cried. "Oh, the chaos that would have caused in the ranks...That is _hilarious_!"

With an annoyed huff, Ed said, "Stop telling anecdotes like that, Carbuncle..."

"_Why should I do that? You already _know_ Minerva wants you to share with these people,_" the Summon replied pointedly, leaning over his forehead to meet his gaze and sticking its tongue out at him.

He just sighed as the woman beside them kept laughing, as much at Carbuncle's behavior as at its story.


	51. 50-New Factors

New Factors

The Wutain girl had to admit she was awed by Midgar, especially from her perch on one of the taller buildings on the Upper Plate. She'd always thought the Palace and the Da Chao statue were impressive as a young child—and they were, since she couldn't completely negate that—but Midgar easily trumped them. A city hovering fifty meters above the ground, above a whole other city (which she admittedly couldn't see from where she was), and a tall spire of a building above that—it was like a fairy tale come alive. For a moment, she debated going to see the 'Lower Plate' city, then decided against that—her target was on the Upper Plate anyway, since she was heading for the Shin-Ra building.

Starting on her way there across the rooftops (she was really thankful for her Ninja training, though!), she absently wondered how long it would take her father to realize she was missing. Well, more like, would he _even notice_, or _care_ if he did? And, even if he realized she had disappeared, he'd probably send people to search all over Wutai before sending them to Shin-Ra lands, let alone Midgar. Even though it was actually really easy with the trader's airships to hitch a ride to just about anywhere in Shin-Ra lands, even as a stowaway. Though, the trip _had not_ been pleasant for her, and she wasn't eager to repeat it any time soon—motion sickness _sucked_!

Now, because Shin-Ra kept treating them like dirt, she planned to steal them blind!

Giggling to herself as she neared the building, she thought about how she could infiltrate without being noticed. One thing jumped out at her—the building was shockingly easy to climb by design alone. The Palace was more defensible only because it didn't literally give people easy entry access at all floors, and she had to wonder if there were _really_ no defenses on the Shin-Ra building just now. That would be stupid of anyone, to leave it defenseless, wouldn't it?

Her stomach rumbled hungrily, so she gave a little, unhappy sound as she stayed on her current perch, which happened to be the roof of a building not far from Shin-Ra Headquarters. The ground around the base of the building was devoid of all shelter, so she'd have nowhere to hide anywhere around the base of it, but the only place which seemed to have lights and monitoring was the front door. A stairwell around the side of the building might let her in, or she could climb it around there or at the back, just as long as she was careful not to cross too many windows. Others looking over from other buildings she could probably mostly avoid by staying close to the same parts she'd have to climb.

At least it was dark out, so the only light came from in the city itself, causing shadows to drift upward. Moving in those shadows would help, too.

With another grin, she moved to the side of the building near the rear and crossed quickly to it so she could start climbing. Some of the gaps were a big reach for her, so having brought along her grappling hooks had been a really good idea. Then again, she'd known it in Wutai, too—she was still a kid, so she was too short to reach all the places an adult could, and the hooks had been a huge help. And they were again now, though she was really having _fun_ climbing the Shin-Ra building! It was a challenge she liked! It was just too bad they were the bad guys.

Most of what she passed were offices, she could see as she glanced in windows. She found other things—plain halls, archives, a cafeteria, two hospital floors. In the last, she was surprised to see Commander Genesis Rhapsodos, the Burning Demon of Wutai. Why would _he_ need to be in the hospital? Especially since he didn't look hurt! She'd heard about him and the Silver Demon and the Regretting Demon (1). Everyone respected them for keeping civilians out of the fighting (though, there wasn't much of that since the last truce was signed a couple years ago), even Wutain ones, but they _loathed_ the Burning Demon because he kept finding ways past their best defenses. When he was looking, anyway.

She still didn't know the difference between loathing something and hating it, though.

Finally, she came to several floors of small apartments. The lower floors of those were mostly occupied, and she was pretty sure those were by SOLDIERs by their eyes. The two top floors of the residential area of the building seemed to be sparser, but in a couple of those rooms, she'd seen Turks, who she'd been told were Shin-Ra's version of the Ninjas. Were those two floors for them, then? Suddenly, she paused on the balcony of one room, peering through the doors and wondering why that room was different from the others. Since she couldn't see anything, she first kept checking the rest of the building for what was there, mostly finding places she both couldn't get food and couldn't hide.

Curiosity piqued, she then returned to the odd room on the lower of the Turks' floors and slipped quietly inside, wondering what the near-hidden wires around the balcony doors were for. It puzzled her, but she thought Shin-Ra used a lot of really loud alarms made with machines and wires, so maybe this was a quiet one of them? If that was true, she should hide for awhile before properly searching the room, so she quickly looked around for a place to hide. As it sounded like a door in the bedroom opened, she dove for the cabinets under the kitchen counters, tucking herself into one which was mostly empty and letting it shut behind her. She was really thankful to Leviathan she was still so small!

Out in the room, she could hear someone walking around and checking things, then heard him say to someone, "I checked it out and there's no one here. Are you _sure_ it didn't just go on the fritz?" A moment later, he quickly backtracked, sounding almost alarmed, "I mean, maybe a bird was picking at it or something, not that you wired it wrong—I _know_ you didn't." There was another pause, then he sighed and said, "All I can do is tell you what I found, which was nothing. There's no one and nothing here which shouldn't be, and nothing is out of place. I mean, someone may have come in, glanced around, realized they were in the wrong place, then left, but that's the best I can offer, since we can't judge by the state of the balcony door—it's been left unlocked since Dor started coming by." There was another pause, then he apparently agreed, "Right, I'll let her know. Later."

Finally, it sounded like he was done talking to whoever it was and walked away, heading for the bedroom. Did he live in the apartment? Again, there was the sound of a door opening (or closing, this time) in the bedroom, and everything went quiet. She waited several minutes longer, then cautiously slipped out from her hiding place to check for the man she'd heard. Even checking the bedroom revealed it to be empty, but...

There was a door in the bedroom wall, which didn't lead to the bathroom?

_What?_

Going back to the main room, the girl again checked the room for entrances and exits—then realized there was no door out into the hall! The balcony doors were one of the very few ways into or out of the room, and it was likely the door in the bedroom was another. Maybe there was another one somewhere. The alarm on the balcony made sense if it was left unlocked, though. Checking the place, she found some snack foods—either recent additions or recent restocks—so grabbed some of those to eat, wondering why there was no actual food there. Well, in a way, that was better for her, because there wasn't much she knew how to cook, anyway.

So, the room looked lived-in, but the person who lived there wasn't the one who had been in there earlier. It was a place they also kept a close eye on—someone they wanted protected? Who or how the other man had been talking to she didn't know, though maybe it had something to do with those 'PHS' things they used to talk to people far away? If that was true, the one who had left the alarm had talked to the man in the next apartment. She'd need to figure out a better way in and out later—

But right then, she was tired, so decided to hijack some of the linens in the storage room and tuck them into the cupboard she'd hidden in before to create a nice, warm nest she could sleep in without having to worry about being found out. There would be time later to figure out other details, and sleep was her friend right then.

FoWD

Zack sighed faintly as he headed back to Cosmo Canyon, having finally found the last of the Cerberuses to have made their way into the area. The only problem was—it hadn't been alone. When he'd found it, there had also been a Shadow Monk, a Mover, a Master Tonberry, a Lature Dano, a Death Dealer, a Belial, and the largest, a Jabberwock. The very odd group of monsters had apparently been holding some sort of council, after a fashion, and none of them were weak by any stretch of the imagination, leaving him puzzling over it. There were a lot of questions it raised—why they were working together, just to start. What were they after? Why were they after it? What had the actions of the Cerberus pack actually been for?

When he returned to Cosmo Canyon, he had to smile wryly at Deneh going about her business with Nina riding on her back as Alexander trotted along behind the pair. It amazed him how the female Moto apparently just completely ignored the girl when she did things like climb on them. Of course, that also meant Nina would unceremoniously get dumped off her back just as easily if she happened to need to move in such a way, and Nina took it all like it was some sort of carnival ride. Nanaki was much less indifferent to the young girl, though he also enjoyed spending time with her and telling her stories—and hated having her jump or climb on him without warning.

But then, there had been a day when Nina had been so dizzy and disoriented she couldn't even stand up, and his heart had gone out to the little girl, and to Aeris, who had obviously been upset over it.

At the moment, Aeris was sitting by the Cosmo Candle, so he climbed up to the available seats to join her. She gave him a smile and asked, "How did it go?"

"It was strange," he admitted. "I mean, I killed them all, but it was a mixed group of them, all from deep in the Cave and apparently working together." He told her what he'd seen, then blinked as she sighed.

"I guess there's something in this area which Jeh-nova wants..." Aeris mused.

"...Sorry, could you clear up that cryptic statement for me?" Zack asked in reply. "Since it might actually be relevant to my report."

She glanced up at him, then looked back at the fire and said, "The original pack was just a decoy sent out to distract everyone from whatever that other group was doing. I think they were trying to find something for the Calamity, the being whose 'J-cells' are infused into SOLDIERs like you. The J-cells come from a being Shinra called Jenova, a simplified version of Jeh-nova, the Calamity from the Skies. I don't know how you could add any of that into your report, though. I wonder what would be in this area which she would want, though...Because I don't think there's anything. The closest place would have been Nibelheim and the Nibel Mountains, where the Reactor is."

"Why? What's at the Reactor?" Zack asked in surprise, knowing it was an experimental facility for some _very_ high-clearance research. As such, he knew nothing about what might be there.

Shaking her head, Aeris replied slowly, "Jeh-nova's body."

Blinking, the young man found himself drawing a blank, so asked, "Why do you know a thing like that? I'm pretty sure random civilians don't have that kind of clearance."

"I'm not a 'random civilian', though, I'm one of Hojo's experimental subjects who he wants back, and mostly only hasn't been able to get me because Tseng won't return me to him unless I'm willing to go. Because Hojo thought Jenova was a Cetra, he ran parallel tests between me and my genetics and hers very often. That's why I know she's usually kept there when he's not actively using her for anything," the young woman explained, just sounding and looking tired.

Zack leaned back thoughtfully, resting his hands behind him on the stone bench as he assessed what she'd just said, then decided the best option was to be blunt. "So, as much as I appreciate being given top-secret data and all...Aren't you taking a huge risk by telling me that? Why would you chance it?"

"What do you plan to do with me, then?" Aeris asked, still just staring at the fire, though he could tell she was carefully controlling her emotions to keep all of them hidden. Aeris _never_ did that! It was actually disorienting to see the lack of feeling on her face and hear nothing in her voice.

But, something Luxiere had told him once came to mind (which also caused a pang of hurt at the loss of his friends), and he thought she might have been testing him to see if he could be trusted. It was something apparently a lot of women in 'delicate' positions often did with people they didn't mind having around.

As such, he went back to the question itself to decide on his most honest answer, then said, "Guards and Hounds in the Turks aside, I'm pretty sure you're still free because Hojo's willing to wait for you to return on your own, otherwise he'd have just gotten other Turks to snatch you. Also, Hojo is pretty creepy, and I don't like the idea of giving a girl—well, young woman—to him, you know? And Nina would be devastated to lose you. So yeah, I'm not planning to do anything, also because it's really not my business—I was just sent here to kill some monsters causing trouble for the locals."

After a pause, the fifteen-year-old beside him began giggling with mirth, managing to gasp out as she did, "I guess Minerva was right about you!"

"Uh...So is Minerva Nina's 'nice lady'?" he asked in something like bemusement over her chuckling. She managed a nod, but then the two fell silent to wait for Aeris to calm down. When she had, he asked, "What was she right about?"

"I guess...That you have a habit of just not being a typical Shinra SOLDIER," she offered, sounding not quite sure of her wording.

"...What precedent does Minerva have for that?" the Second asked in surprise.

"I don't have good words to explain it, but apparently there are other versions of the Planet which are all at the same point in their timeline, but where things are different between them because of different decisions people made along the way. Since there are so many, and all or most of them have a version of you, I guess she's taking those 'other yous' as justification for the way you'll behave now. For some people, that doesn't work well, but you're...I guess pretty reliable in the way you react to things?" the young woman explained tentatively.

"I see," he blinked in surprise. "That's kinda a lot to take in." She just nodded, so he leaned back again and commented, "I have to head back to Gongaga, and to Midgar, now that I found that last Cerberus...It's probably going to be a long while before we meet again, but I definitely want to."

Aeris smiled and said, "Just be discreet about me and the things I told you which you know are top secret, okay? Otherwise, I'm pretty sure we'll meet again later."

He chuckled, then said, "Actually, I'm going to stay here today, then set out in the morning. I think they were having a 'fire festival' tonight?"

"Yes, it's somewhat like a harvest celebration from what they told me. It's probably just as well that you stay, anyway, so you have all day to get back to Gongaga," the young woman smiled.

"Big Flower Sister! Big Brother Bear! They're setting up big tables!" Nina suddenly burst out from the foot of the stairs, hopping up and down eagerly, and with Alexander beside her. "Will we get to eat soon?"

"Tonight, Budling," Aeris replied as both older ones chuckled. "They'll have a special feast for everyone tonight."

"Yay! Can I help them at all?" the girl asked hopefully.

"Go ask them. You won't know unless you do," Zack told her in amusement, and Aeris nodded.

"Okay!" And, just like that, Nina was off like a shot to ask people if she could help.

FoWD

Ed looked up from his papers in surprise when Lucrecia stepped into the room with a smile on her face as she asked, "How are you feeling this morning, Edward?"

"Better. As long as you don't give me a heart attack," he replied in a dry tone, thankful he'd been working on alchemy just then, exactly because her entrance had been more sudden than normal.

She chuckled and offered, "But, you see—I think you're now past the point of actually having one, fear or surprise aside." He gaped at her, and she went on, "Now, I have the next stage of your genetic therapy worked out, and it will effectively be a type of chemical bath which you'll be spending an hour in daily for the the next few weeks. That means coming here every day around this time for three weeks. I'll check the results again then and let you know if you'll need more time. I'm assuming you'll want a guard during that time, since it's likely you'll quickly fall asleep, so I've asked for Kariya and Doriss to have time scheduled to act as such for about three hours, the one during and two after, while you'll still be groggy. We'll be doing the first one today shortly. Questions?"

"What is this 'chemical bath' supposed to fix, and how is it doing it?" he asked in surprise, assessing what she'd said.

Nodding, she informed him, "There were several attempted enhancements they tried to make to you which backfired and caused you a problem instead. We went over a few of those—skin sensitivity, bowel sensitivity, and cellular level damage. Those are the ones I'm aiming to either reduce greatly or fix entirely at this point because they're straining your body unnecessarily. They're also the ones most receptive to this form of genetic therapy—absorption is always touchy and tends to only work in certain situations. With the chemical compound I'll be using as the catalyst, your skin cells should be more receptive to absorbing the actual modified cell samples which will kick-start cell repair under those three categories. However, the modified cells will only be able to make so much progress on any one round of therapy, because your body needs time to adapt to the new instructions we're giving it, hence the minimum three week time we need to complete the process."

"...I see. And you're starting now?" Ed asked, pondering the data. It made sense.

"That's the plan," she agreed.

"What do I do after the first round today?"

"Head back to your own apartment with Kariya. If you're still too out of it to walk, he has no issue with carrying you back, but other than the side effects you're likely to experience from the chemical bath, you're recovered—and technically discharged from hospital care."

At that, Ed's lips quirked a bit in amusement as he asked, "In other words, I might wake up in my own room, rather than here?"

"Possibly," the woman agreed, then paused for a moment. "Anything else?" she asked when he didn't ask another question right away.

"I don't think so," he told her. "Though, maybe I'll have more questions after this first round. I mean, since I assume the chemical bath isn't going to be toxic to humans."

"No, it's not," she grinned. "There's a form of chemical bath which is, but this one isn't for that specific difficulty, so we don't need to use anything almost equally as harmful as helpful. There won't be any pain, and the most discomfort you'll feel will likely be from your cells complaining about having to do work they normally don't."

Ed snorted, then agreed, "I guess we should get it over with, then."

"Up you get, then, so we can get to the room and get started," Lucrecia agreed, so he rose and followed her to the room where the bath was waiting. Outside, Kariya was standing, and gave him a smile and wave as the two passed by to enter the room.

In the room, there was a lower area around the outside of it which led to a gently upward-sloping floor that leveled out at the top edge of the medical tub fixture in the middle of the room. There were about three feet of flat floor around the tub rim, and stairs at thirds around the tub led down into it, with a grip-rail in stainless steel anyone getting in or out could hold onto for help. Steaming water filled the tub, which was white, but the water itself then showed as an odd cross between green, yellow, and red, nearly obscuring the seats and bottom of the tub. From a table to the side of the room, down on the main level, Lucrecia took a light-weight, white robe and told him to change into it, then he could step into the tub wearing it. He noticed a change of his own clothes was sitting on the same table she had taken the robe from. In the corner near it was a curtained partition for him to change behind, so he did.

Once he was in the white robe, Ed tentatively approached the tub and cautiously dipped the lower part of one foot in it—then blinked as he realized it was just warm, not hot. The smell of the chemical in the air wasn't very strong because of the ventilation system, but right over the tub, it was impossible not to smell it, and for some reason, he thought of a cross between a cleaning chemical his mother had used and eggnog. At least it wasn't a smell of rotting eggs! Either way, he stepped carefully down the stairs, noting how they had rough, non-slip patches on them, and decided on a place to sit. As the various 'seats' in the tub were actually at varying levels, he could choose a higher one rather than a lower one, which also kept his head above the water.

Soon after he settled, his skin began to itch, even as his eyes started drooping, and it was only the Doctor saying, "You should lean back now," that kept him from dropping his head face-first into the water.

After that, he didn't remember much besides a last, drifting thought that he really wished he could scratch his whole, itchy body...

**Notes:**

(1) In the original, Sephiroth was the only SOLDIER who had a 'title', which was 'the Demon of Wutai'. He was literally the prized specimen, and the only one anyone saw as worth such a title. With the change in dynamic in Dimensions, Sephiroth isn't letting himself be used the way he previously was, so Genesis (the Burning Demon) and Angeal (the Regretting Demon) are much better known, even to the Wutains. By extension, they all earned nicknames, and all the nicknames had to be different enough to tell the three apart by, so needed to be a little more specific.


	52. 51-Variables

Variables

Genesis had to blink in surprise as Doctor Crescent came into his room with a smile about an hour and a half later than she usually visited in the morning, but had no time to ponder that or speak as she beat him to it. "So, I trust you're feeling fine?" she asked.

"I have been for days now," he replied dryly.

"Of course, largely because your cells hadn't entered a state of mass die-off," she agreed. "And you recall my saying why I was keeping you here?"

"To be sure my cells started regenerating with the injection you gave me, if I recall correctly," he blinked.

The woman nodded and told him, "As of this morning, the blood sample the nurse took showed significant improvement to the state of your cells—they're restoring and revitalizing themselves. I'll want another sample from you in a few weeks to see if the progression rate is holding—in which case, your cells will all or nearly all be healthy—but otherwise, you can go now. You'll be on a reduced workload until I can verify you're recovered, which Lazard knows, so he shouldn't give you anything which will over-strain your body. No, it also won't be the kinds of tasks given to Thirds, it'll be the kind given to Seconds or new Firsts, so not too far below what you're used to, either."

Feeling bemused by her explanation, Genesis had to ask, "So exactly what kind of 'strain' are you worried about if it's apparently not really 'physical' by the work you're still letting Lazard give me?"

"There's a point of stress—mental, emotional, physical—which causes a transition between manufactured Mako and direct activation of J-cells," Lucrecia answered bluntly, and he blinked in surprise. "The Mako from the Reactors is what's used in your infusions, and it has a limit to what it can repair only on its own power. The extra boost skilled Firsts have to act at the level you're capable of comes from the Mako reaching its limit and triggering compensation from the J-cells in your bodies to meet the difference. Right now, we don't want to strain your J-cells, otherwise we would risk triggering a mass die-off before enough of them have been repaired, so we're limiting you to what the Mako itself can do for you. Which doesn't negate the potential of you being injured in such a way as to cause mass die-off, so you know. We're not being so careful we'd have to keep you in a box for the next three weeks."

The red haired man first gaped in surprise, then blinked as he processed the words, then snorted and chuckled as he gave his head a shake. "I think you'd run the risk of me activating my own cell die-off if you tried to keep me here for the next three weeks."

"We realized that," Lucrecia answered in dry amusement. "So, any questions before I leave you to dress and head out?"

For a moment, Genesis paused, then commented slowly, "The General approached me to offer lessons on the use of my new wings." The woman blinked in mild surprise, but motioned for him to go on, so he asked, "Is it true getting those lessons would give Jenova less ability to control me again?" At least he now knew no one else had been behind Sephiroth making the offer—he had done it entirely himself.

For a moment, the woman just gazed at him evenly, then sighed and said, "Sephiroth spent three weeks struggling with her for control of his own body after his first activation of those wings." Genesis blinked, and she went on, "The effect she had was stronger when he was actively accessing her J-cells for something—like using his wings. What kept breaking her hold on him was how everything he found out about their use gave her one less avenue to cajole him into listening to her 'because she could teach him things no one else could'. We were all lucky Vincent has Chaos, and Chaos could teach him those things in Jenova's place. So, would those lessons be useful in keeping her from gaining control of you again?"

"_Yes_..." the red haired man breathed, a cross between stunned and horrified. The woman nodded, so he asked, "And I guess the same is true about any...past issues which would instinctively make me try to reject my wings, or other abilities coming from the J-cells?"

"You mean trauma from your childhood?" she asked, head tipped to the side. He was thankful she wasn't really showing emotion regarding the topic, just mostly taking it as data in order to give him answers.

"I don't know if it counts as 'trauma', exactly, but there are unpleasant things in my childhood which do admittedly still affect me now," he agreed, being deliberately vague. He hadn't actually intended to tell Sephiroth before, and he didn't want to share any details again now.

"Then yes. Theoretically, anything in your childhood which still affects you now is a potential foothold for her, but the ones which would have the greatest likelihood of her taking advantage of are the ones which directly reference or relate to her cells. And for your own well-being, dealing with those things from your past—all of them—would be beneficial. How much you do towards that and how quickly is up to you, but I _do_ know a woman who could help you work through those things, and she's not affiliated with Shinra, so anything you discuss with her will stay private. If you decide you'd like her help, just let me know," Lucrecia offered. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

"You want to send me to a shrink?" Genesis snorted in amusement.

"She's not one, actually," the Doctor replied in amusement, and he stared. "She's not going to handle you or what you tell her in the way they normally do because she intrinsically sees the world differently from the average person. Your meetings with her would be off the clock and on your own time. No one will be paying anything, unless she asks you for help with heavy lifting or whatever on a particular day, and there will actually be no official record of your meetings. What I know from personal experience is that her method works, which is why I recommend her to people who need the perspective and support she can give. I also even go to her sometimes for advice in dealing with patients. So, if you decide at any time to see if she can help you sort yourself out, I'll get you in touch with her, and the rest will be up to you."

"...Oh," the man replied, not sure how else he could respond.

"Anything else?" she asked after a short pause.

"No, I'm all good for right now," he said, still just staring at her.

"Good. Head out, then. You know where to find me if you need anything, and I'll be in touch with you in a few days with your appointment date for that—hopefully last—blood test." Lucrecia gave him a final nod, then left the room so he could dress.

It took him a few minutes to get himself moving, but then he quite eagerly dressed, gathered his things, and made his way out of the hospital room and towards the lobby. In the lobby, he found Angeal waiting, and the two greeted one another with hugs.

Then, a bubbly, "Hi, Genesis!" reached his ears, and he looked around Angeal's side to see Shelke standing there with a grin, and beside her was an older girl who glared at him suspiciously through her glasses. The older girl, if memory served him, would be Shalua, the older of his two younger sisters. "Ignore Shalua," Shelke added, seeing her sister's glare. "She's suspicious of _everyone_, even our dad and Auryn."

He laughed and said, "That's not entirely a bad thing, you know, Shelke," even as the older girl threw the younger one an annoyed glare.

"That's what I said, too," Angeal agreed in amusement. "So, back to your room?"

"Yeah, I need to get properly cleaned up before I do anything," Genesis agreed. "Then we can decide what we want to do until whenever you girls need to leave."

"We have to meet our dad for supper," Shalua offered, still looking suspicious. "Otherwise—we each should have had another class this afternoon, but the teacher for the Materia class canceled all of them. And Shelke didn't have to meet that Reeve guy today, either, so she _insisted_ we meet you instead."

"...'That Reeve guy'?" Genesis repeated in amusement. "You _do_ realize you're talking about one of the Shinra executives, right?"

"Don't care after those sort-of SOLDIERs tried to kidnap Shelke. I don't even _like_ Shinra, even if their Academy offers some good classes. If I'd have had to work for Shinra by taking those classes, I'd have said no," Shalua answered bluntly, and both men's eyes widened marginally.

"But Mr. Reeve is nice! And Lady Shinra, too!" Shelke piped up, clearly whining at the older girl.

"Okay, let's go up to my apartment, then," Genesis cut in, grinning as he motioned them to follow him. They all did, even as he wondered if it was _safe_ for Shalua to say things like that in public places in the Shinra building.

FoWD

The Wutain girl had woken later than normal that morning and borrowed more snack foods to eat. Then, she'd heard the other door in the apartment bedroom open, so she dove back into her nest in the cupboard. There were some 'moving cloth' sounds from the bedroom, then the sound of that door closing again reached her, and she wondered what _that_ had been about. After waiting the required several minutes to be sure the man had left (since she was sure it was mostly just him coming in), she carefully got up and made her way softly to the room—only to pause at the door as she realized someone was laying in the bed.

She blinked, then slowly crept forward, curiosity over who it was getting the better of her. The person had been placed so they were mostly covered and facing the side of the bed towards the proper bedroom door, so it was closer to the side she was on, anyway. She was also sure whoever it was—the person wasn't a kid, though—was sleeping by the sound of their breathing, so she was pretty sure just looking would be okay, and she wouldn't get caught.

Until she was close enough to their head to be able to shuffle the sheet and blanket aside—

And a hand suddenly seized her wrist and yanked her, causing her to yelp as she found herself on her back, laying on the bed and being pinned down by a young man with long, golden hair and gold eyes like a cat's. At first, he looked completely disoriented and she was afraid he would hurt her—but then his eyes cleared and he sighed out, "Yufi Kisaragi..." A moment later, he'd groaned and released her, dropping back to the bed beside her on his belly, his arms wrapped around his head as she tried to work out what him knowing her on sight meant.

Then, the door opened as that man from before asked worriedly, "What's wrong, Aur—E—" Her gaze lifted to him in alarm as a man with orange hair and in the Turks' uniform froze to stare at her.

"Kariya, meet Emperor Godo's daughter, Yufi Kisaragi. She's a thief primarily, and shockingly good at keeping secrets. No, you're _not_ going to hurt her or try to ransom her back to her father—I _really_ don't want to be on _his_ hit list for 'kidnapping' his daughter," the blond recited in a bland tone (other than the words he'd emphasized, those had sounded strained) muffled by his arms and the material of the pillow.

Both of the other two just stared at him in shock (didn't the Turk know the blond well enough to not be shocked?), and the girl thought about bolting.

The Turk ruined her chance for that by rounding the bed and offering a hand to her as he said, "Up you get, then, Princess." She took the hand and let him pull her to her feet, then the man asked the blond, "So, what do you want us to do with her, then?"

To her surprise, the younger man snorted and replied, "Put her in Turk training. Trust me, she'll be fantastic at it. And discipline her the same way you would another Turk or one of your kids if they pulled the kind of shit she will."

"...And her living arrangements?" Kariya asked, sounding suddenly bemused.

"Wherever she's willing to actually _stay_. If that's here, then it's here. If it's with someone like Tseng, Illis, or Genesis, let her stay there. She's a _lot_ better behaved that way," the blond answered tiredly, still not moving.

"Hold on, how do you know so much about me? And how do you even know I'll like training as a Turk—as one of the bad guys?" Yufi asked suddenly, still just staring at the blond when she wasn't glancing at the entirely bemused Turk still holding one of her wrists.

"You're Wutain. Can you really not think of a way?" he asked her in reply, and her eyes widened as she realized he meant Leviathan's Blessing. "As for you liking it...You'll see for yourself once you get used to the way they handle you."

"So...How often does this happen?" Kariya asked before Yufi could reply.

"Often enough. Not normally just like this, but I've never met her first at the Palace, it's always been somewhere else, normally somewhere she wasn't supposed to be," the blond sighed. "This is the first time she's managed to get to Midgar alone at age nine. Then again, it's also the first time Shinra and Wutai haven't been at war at this point in time, either."

"I'll introduce her to Lady Shinra, then," Kariya agreed, still completely bemused. "Ed, is there a particular reason you don't want her father mad at you?"

"...His brand of torture is easily as bad as Tseng's. That's only happened twice, but it's not something a person forgets easily." The blond's words made Yufi's eyes widen in horror—her father wouldn't torture someone, especially not over her, but Leviathan's Blessing meant _it happened_ in some future he was probably trying to change.

"Is it just me or do Wutains have a bad habit of being presented as psychotic torturers?" the Turk asked with a terse expression. That left the girl puzzled.

"Don't forget that there's easily as many people in these lands I've learned to fear in the same way for the same reason, Kariya," the blond—had the Turk called him 'Ed'?—said in an almost bland tone. "The only thing you can actually say about a Wutain is that, if they set out to do something, they're _going_ to do it right. By extension, if they set out to save people, they most likely will, but if they set out to torture them to death...Well, they don't do anything half-way, unlike most of the people outside Wutai."

"...And Yufi? If you called her a thief, and Wutains don't do anything half-way..." At least the Turk had the sense to ask that.

"She's still a kid and can be re-trained to stop doing it, just like _any_ kid. Well, unless they're soulless," the blond shrugged. "Can I _please_ go back to sleep now?"

Kariya snorted and said, "Fine, fine. Rest, Ed, and don't worry about Yufi." He then used the grip he had on her wrist to pull her from the room through the extra door—which led to the bedroom of the next apartment over. From there, after he shut the door, he led her to the main room of his apartment, sat her at the table, and pulled out his PHS (she was glad to know she'd guessed right about that) to make a call to 'Lady Shinra'. After that, he started cooking, and she just waited warily for what would happen next, swinging her legs to use up the energy she wanted to be able to use so badly...

FoWD

Cloud was very nervous—upset, even—as he waited to find out if he'd be able to go to Shinra with the Turks. At least he knew they hadn't left town yet, but it was already noon and he hadn't heard from them. He couldn't eat and was so jittery he couldn't even just sit at the table, causing his mother to order him to start folding clothes from the laundry she'd done the day before and that morning. So, because he couldn't eat anyway and wouldn't have been able to focus on anything else, he just folded the clothes, something he at least was doing well enough for his mother to ignore him.

When a knock came on the door, he almost jumped out of his skin, and his mother got up to answer it, asking the person outside, "How can I help you?"

"I'd like to speak with Cloud, please," a familiar voice said, but until his mother had invited the man in and he could see his uniform, he wasn't able to put a name to him.

When he saw the man, he rose from where he'd been sitting folding the laundry and asked, "Verde, does this mean I _did_ pass?"

The older blond's eyes found his after scanning over the room, and he replied to the query with, "I thought we already established the fact that you were doing things right from the start? Come join me at the table—and please eat. It's going to be a long flight to Midgar."

Cloud blushed as he realized the man had seen his uneaten meal—and probably knew he hadn't been able to eat because of nerves. In his defense, he said, "Nothing ever goes well for me, and waiting was hard because the longer I waited, the more I thought I hadn't been chosen after all..." He made his way to the table, though, and began eating, something he could do now because he was assured he'd be going with them. "Don't you just need to tell me to pack?"

"How does _that_ help you if we don't tell you what you're packing _for_?" Verde asked in reply, and the boy blinked. "And in this case, that means a need for a discussion, because it's not as simple as saying 'you're bound for this department' and leaving it at that. Like with Miss Lockhart, two others in town we could be so simple with because there was no question of where their strengths were, but your results are too open-ended for that, and I'm pretty sure you never even gave thought to the options I can give you."

"...Open-ended?" Cloud asked in confusion as his mother sat beside him at the table. "What happened with my testing for you to say something like that?"

"The tests we run are actually arranged so we can find people who will do well in _any_ department in Shinra, even though our traditional focus is on SOLDIER and the Turks, in that order. We also look for engineers, scientists, accountants, secretaries—you name it," Verde explained. "There are score ranges in the five parts, as well as a sixth, over-all assessment we do during the process, which can change the results of where a person could end up, and the combat test additionally directs placement into the various departments. It's complex and I won't go into all the details, but the scores you got placed you in three categories—SOLDIER, though that's a bare thing and it would be very hard on you, the Turks, and Weapons or Urban Development as an engineer."

Both Cloud's and his mother's eyes widened at the words, but after a moment, the older man went on, "On principle, you could choose any one of them as themselves. If you decide you don't want to fight after all, engineering is your best bet, but if you want that combat element, that's SOLDIER or the Turks. In SOLDIER, you'd have to start as a Cadet with no guarantee of success. However, as the Turks, we have an additional option—you could train in engineering while being a Turk. That would mean one of your primary functions in our unit would be to develop gear for us to use—weapons, various devices, armor, and so on. You'll still have the same work as any other Turk, and we have another engineer you'd be able to work with in our ranks, but she honestly works more with vehicles than with things like weapons and tools. If that's not something you want to explore, the Turks will still be open to you, and we'll capitalize on your speed and agility."

"How do you even know Cloud has skill in engineering?" Mrs. Strife asked in confusion. "He's never shown signs like that before."

"Did he 'not show' them, or did he never have a chance _to try_?" Verde asked shrewdly, and her eyes widened as she looked at her son. "One of the tests we ran was to hand everyone a damaged piece of engineering—in his case, it was a gun. Only people who have an engineering mind can, or will bother to, tell me as much as he observed about it, and we've found almost half our engineers with that test. He has a natural affinity for it, and would honestly do well with it in one of the engineering departments. The same is true for him being a Turk, even if there are obviously aspects he would need to work on if he joined us, like his ability to deal with people. Those are things we can, and will, do for someone with an observational skill and the sheer gall he has—things Turks need in spades. Though, during the testing, he mentioned to me a desire to join SOLDIER, so that's not completely off the table either."

"Are you offering SOLDIER just because that was where he was aiming?" the woman asked with a frown.

"No, Ma'am," the Turk answered in amusement. "He actually scored high enough in the things he needed to in order to qualify, it was just a near thing." His gaze moved to Cloud's as she blinked in surprise, and the man asked, "So, which way do you want to take things?"

"...You're not really giving me much time to decide..." Cloud pouted at him. Verde's brow rose and the boy blushed faintly. "...If I hadn't been thinking about it since the test yesterday..."

"And?" the older blond asked, sounding amused.

"...Do you know, I kept thinking about two things after I finished the test yesterday?" the boy asked, and Verde tipped his head to the side. "Something else about the gun kept bothering me, and I never thought I'd actually be interested to know more, or care if someone offered me more. I never thought that meant I was interested in engineering, but...I was also thinking about how you said Turks can even beat SOLDIERs, but the Turks aren't enhanced. Then, if I want to _actually_ be as strong as I can be, I'd _have_ to join the Turks, even if it means I won't be some hero in the news."

Verde smiled at the words, but Cloud went on, "About that gun...Didn't the barrel split because of something _inside_ the gun?" The older blond's eyes widened in amazement, and the boy went on, "It was a test weapon with a new kind of bullet, but something went wrong and damaged the gun, but for some reason, once it started shooting, it wouldn't stop without something stopping the bullets from moving. That would also mean the bullets were larger than normal ones, and weren't being fired with gunpowder, otherwise the gun would be in pieces. Am I right?"

"Definitely an engineer," Verde replied by way of an answer.

For a long moment, the younger blond eyed him, then asked, "Could I test how doing engineering while training as a Turk goes, and switch to just one or the other if it doesn't work out?"

"I'm sure we can arrange that," Verde agreed. "That means you need to be prepared to take with you any weapons, gear, or equipment you have on hand, as well as clothes, both civilian and any meant for skills you train in. You may not have formal or even assigned clothes for combat training, and since you weren't aware you had engineering skill, you likely don't have anything in that line, but if you do, please take it with you. We may ask someone from Weapons or Urban Development to handle your engineering training, but otherwise, your training will be with the Turks. Who will take charge of you will depend on how Vincent and Verdot, the Director and his Second, work things out, so that will happen when we get back to Midgar. You'll stick with me when we disembark."

"Okay. How soon do I have to be packed?" the boy asked.

"Think you can manage within an hour?" Verde asked in reply. After a pause, the blond boy nodded, so he said, "Good, because that's how long you have, give or take a few minutes. Now that you've eaten, go get started on your packing. When you're done, head to Shinra Manor—we should be at the helicopter in the front yard by the time you get there. Also, since you're now bound for the Turks, you're welcome to sit in the front of the chopper with me for part or all of the flight if you like."

"Okay," Cloud agreed, so Verde rose, nodded to his mother, and left.

"Are you really sure you want to do this, Cloud?" his mother asked, reaching out to hug him tightly.

"Yes, Mom...I'm sure. I don't have a life here, so..." he answered softly, hugging her back just as tightly. "I'll miss you."

"Take care of yourself and write to me every few weeks, okay?" she requested, letting him go.

"I will," he agreed, then rose to pack.


	53. 52-Odd Allies

Odd Allies

Sirra as Ratri had become well-known as a presence in the Slums very quickly, and was _still_ just working out how much more skilled her training and work as a Turk had made her. That morning, she had checked with the bounty office for work she could do locally as usual, and had found an unusual request which had been put out by the Turks. As a Turk, she knew they occasionally sent out requests to mercenaries for assistance, but that was normally just clearing monsters out of no man's land for them—which this one was _not_. In fact, she didn't think she'd ever seen or heard of a request like this one from the Turks.

She had asked the clerk in charge of the bounty office if it had _really_ come from them, but he hadn't been able to tell her because it was the night shift clerk who would have taken it. In other words, the half-Wutain who she met every time she went in to collect her day's earnings from her completed bounties. She took a copy of the request, though, because she didn't know if it was legit or not, or if there was something she was missing about it. As much as she hated the feeling, she was _sure_ this would take investigation to answer, and mercs didn't investigate, they just did what they were paid to do.

But, it had to do with a group of illegal goods runners in Wall Market—they gave Corneo a cut, so he let them operate on his territory—so she was pretty sure she knew someone who could help her. Even if he _was_ a Guard. Someone wanted the runners eliminated because they had 'become a threat to the population' by branching out into high-powered weaponry. In theory, it would make sense for the bounty to exist, but unless they had stolen something of Shinra's from them directly, she didn't think the Turks would bother with it, and if they bothered, they would be handling it themselves. And the only one she had easy access to from that department was Ruluf.

So, she was currently making her way down an alley near where she knew he 'data gathered' from (or one of the places in Wall Market he did so), and found him leaning against the building to the right of the alley, right at the edge of it. It was a tactic which would cause most people to ignore him, since he was clearly unhurried and not upset in any way, but which gave him a quick escape if he needed it. And even in a Turk uniform, that worked in Wall Market—she'd even used it before, like all the Turks had when they'd had reason to be in the area.

Making no secret of her presence to him, she leaned on the alley wall next to the same corner Ruluf was leaning on. His head turned slightly, but he otherwise didn't react, so she asked quietly, "You know I'm 'undercover' right now, right?"

He pulled out a cigarette and lighter, making a show of lighting up the smoke so he could shield his mouth as he answered as quietly, "Yeah. What's that got to do with me?"

"Found a really interesting bounty at the office today, supposedly put out by the Turks. I'm not sure that's true," she replied quietly as he put his lighter away, but kept his hand, and the smoke, close to or in front of his mouth, whether or not he was taking a drag on it at the time. "Did you lot put out a bounty on those goods runners down at Warehouse Eight?"

He blew out a long stream of smoke, then took another drag as he muttered, "Why the Hellfire would we do that?"

"Yeah," she muttered. "Makes me think someone made use of Kariya's ID to put it out, and that would mean Fuhito or one of his goons. Then, we'd have to ask 'why?' Problem is, mercs don't investigate, they just _do_, so I _can't_ find out for myself what that asshole's up to now."

After a silence and a couple puffs on his cigarette, Ruluf asked, "You got a copy of the bounty?"

"I need it back, but here," she agreed, slipping the folded paper to him at his hip by his pocket. To anyone else, it would have looked like he'd taken it from his pocket. Then, he quickly read it, made a little 'tch' noise, and slipped it back to her the same way, as though he'd just put it back into his pocket.

"As much as I hate to agree with a Hound, I think you're right," he replied. "I have a watch post near Warehouse Eight—meet me there around three. I'll have something for you by then, but no promises on how much. You got other shit to do for the day?"

"Yeah, a clear request and an escort half-way across the city. No idea if I'll be done the escort on time to meet you, so you'll have to wait if I'm not," Sirra told him. "I'm completely not worried about the clear request—might even have it done before I have to go pick the girl up to take her back to her husband."

The man gave a faint snort which he had to quickly cover by bringing his smoke to his mouth again. "I've got time, no worries. But really? Taking married girls back to their husbands? Mercs really _do_ that?"

"'S not like the Slums are safe for women who can't fight to walk around in. Her parents are too old and frail to get her home, her husband works sixteen hour shifts so has no time, and _his_ ma has to take care of their two kids. Yeah, mercs get that kinda work quite a bit 'cause not everyone can do it themselves," she replied in annoyance. "Asshole."

"Sorry," he replied, going quiet. She didn't think 'chastised' described his response, just...thoughtful. "Wasn't trying to be rude. And I guess monsters aren't the only danger."

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons a lot of people who need an escort will pay for it. And for a woman, to be able to have a woman merc—who _won't_ try to rape her and _will_ actually get her where she's going safely—that's worth paying for. A woman in my field can get rich off escorts like that alone, so don't go knocking it," Sirra pointed out with a sneer.

"Point taken. I'll see you later, then. But I'll have to let the Turks know, so if there's anything else you want to pass on, be prepared to hand it to me so I can get it back to the office for you."

"Hmm...Yeah, I'll think on that, 'cause I'm sure there was something I did want to pass on. Later," she agreed, then slipped away quietly and went on with what she needed to do. Later was later, and she would see what would happen then.

FoWD

Ed woke on his own around noon, so got up to take care of his needs and shower, then dressed in fresh clothes and decided to check Kariya's apartment for how Yufi was doing—assuming he hadn't just had a really strange dream. As he made his way to the older man's bedroom, however, he was assured he hadn't been dreaming, as he could hear Yufi asking in amazed horror, "How can this be so _hard_?"

Since Kariya was chuckling, Ed made his way into the main room, causing the man to look up at him with a faint half-smile as he commented, "You're sure getting adventurous, Ed. That's good to see. Lunch is in the oven, since I had to make enough to cover at least two others besides us three. Ever had shepherd's pie?"

And for some reason, Ed jumped all the way back to when he was a little boy in Amestris as he said, "My mom used to make them every few weeks..." He then drifted off and blinked as he added, "Damn, that's an _old_ memory to have suddenly thought of..."

Kariya had to snort at the words as he said, "No harm in that since it's a good memory, right?" When Ed nodded, he offered, "Come join us." On the table, the blond could see a board with about a dozen rows of four holes, plus a mini set of four holes beside each row, and another set of four which was facing Kariya at the time. There were many pegs in six colors as well, some on the table and some placed on the board.

"What are you doing?" the blond asked as he slowly sat beside Yufi.

"It's a game called Mastermind—basically, a type of code-breaking by process of elimination," Kariya replied. "Right now, I'm the codemaker, so I've chosen four pegs as the code, and the Princess is the codebreaker, who is trying to figure out what the code is. Correct guesses each earn a point, and whoever has the most points at the end wins. Though, the end is however many rounds we decided at the start, which is six, and we're on five now."

Ed eyed all the pieces on the table and board, then asked, "So are there the same number of pegs of each color?"

"There are," the man agreed.

"...So, if you've used four, counting the pegs left over would immediately tell the codebreaker which colors you used and how many of each, and the only thing left to do would be to guess the order," the blond said dryly, and the other two blinked at him in amazement. "Could you use a sheet of paper with numbers or something that you write down instead?"

After a pause, Kariya grinned and informed him, "If this was a serious game 'to win', maybe that would be the better option, and yes, that's one of the possible variants of Mastermind. This isn't a serious game, so it doesn't actually matter if we even keep track of the points. For someone who's never played a game like this before, though, Yufi does quite well for her age. She's already managed better 'scores' than Shelke on every round."

"...Hmm..." Edward murmured as he thought about it and eyed the board. "Yufi, do you actually get how 'process of elimination' works?"

"Sort of?" she offered with a pout. "If you try one thing and it doesn't work, you have to try another until you get it."

"Not quite," he replied, lips twitching a bit in amusement. "Think of it like the process of how you search for treasure or something worth stealing."

She gaped at him. "You mean, like how I pick a place to start, then check each place I come to from there, in an order, until I find what I'm looking for?" the girl asked in amazement. When he nodded, she went back to the board to examine it carefully. She only had three rows left, so she looked like she was actually going back and really checking what she had done before.

"Should you be encouraging those kinds of thought patterns?" Kariya asked him in a dry tone while the girl was working out her next guess.

"There's nothing wrong with the 'thought pattern', only with her applying it to stealing, Kariya," the blond replied equally as dryly. The man blinked at him, then turned his attention back to Yufi while she was obviously calculating something.

Soon after, Yufi had made her guesses—and got it on the last one—and their roles had been reversed so Kariya was doing the guessing. That time, the girl obviously grasped what he was doing as he made his guesses, so Ed just watched them...And realized it reminded him of a game he'd played with Al and Winry back in his hometown when they'd been around six years old. Only, back then, the 'pegs' had either been farm animals or—as he'd offered—numbers from one to six. That flashback brought tears to his eyes for a moment as he realized he hadn't thought of Al and Winry or the good memories he had of them in a very long time.

The game was interrupted by a knock on the door, so Kariya got up to answer it—and as he was opening it, the oven timer went off, causing him to give an annoyed look at the oven as Yufi giggled and Ed gave him an amused grin. Since a startled Lady Shinra and Rufus were at the door, the blond got up and went to turn off the oven, grabbed the oven mitts off the counter from where Kariya had left them, and pulled the shepherd's pie out of the oven.

As he'd been doing that, Kariya had said to the two humans outside (since Carbuncle was sitting on Rufus' head), "Come on in—I made enough for everyone to join us for lunch."

"Thank you," the woman agreed in mild amusement, stepping inside as Kariya joined Ed to take the dish from him. Soon after, Yufi and Kariya's game had been pushed to the side and everyone had found seats at the table, Lady Shinra and Rufus across from Yufi and Ed while Kariya sat to the side of the table between the girl and woman. Carbuncle, meanwhile, had begun poking around the apartment.

They first had a pleasant meal before Lady Shinra turned her attention to Yufi and said genially, "I hear you're Princess Yufi Kisaragi, Emperor Godo's daughter."

Yufi pouted, but answered, "Yeah. So?"

"What brought you here, Princess?" the woman asked.

"Shin-Ra always treats us like trash, so I was going to just steal all kinds of things from you to pay you back for it," the girl answered, her tone and gaze shockingly fierce.

"Revenge?" Lady Shinra asked with a raised brow.

"I guess..."

"How did you get here?"

"If I tell you, you'll send me home and make sure I won't be able to get back."

"_If_ anyone were to keep you from returning, it would be your father. Regardless, I don't currently plan to send you back. As such, how did you get here? It was no short jaunt."

For a long moment, Yufi was silent, but then she sighed and said, "You have merchants here who trade with Wutains. I stowed away on one of the ships heading for Midgar after trading off stuff."

"I see. Is there a particular reason you don't want to go home? I'm sure your father is worried about you," the woman commented, her gaze flashing over to Rufus for a moment.

All of them except Ed stared at her when she gave a derisive snort and replied, "_If_ he even noticed I'm gone."

"Wouldn't he?" Lady Shinra asked, gaze sad.

"No, probably not. He doesn't care about me or what I do, just as long as I don't cause trouble for him when he's in 'Court'. _Everyone else_ means more to him than I do!" the girl burst out in anger.

Ed sighed at the words and put in, "Godo was already grieving the loss of his whole cousin family, the Kaoins—that's seven people—to torture and murder around the time Yufi was born, and when she was five or six, I'm still not clear on exactly when it happened, he also lost his wife to illness. It was too much to handle and he effectively distracted himself by turning to affairs of state to drown out the pain, which also meant he completely lost touch with his only remaining family member—Yufi. He also doesn't know how to fix it. I know he still cares and worries about her, but he doesn't know how he needs to express that to her, so she legitimately feels he doesn't care. The lack of reaction he gives her for stealing is one of the big reasons she feels so strongly about it, because that lack literally translates to a child as 'he doesn't care what I do.' And he doesn't know one of the Kaoins is still alive, though said Kaoin also doesn't want him to know that."

"Why not?" Rufus asked in complete confusion. "I would think family would want to touch base."

"Not when the Kaoin in question was subject to torture at the hands of a fair number of Crescent Unit's members, which to him meant his 'cousin' was the one to have them tortured to death. He doesn't know those members of Crescent Unit acted without Godo's knowledge or permission, and neither does Godo, because they were careful to leave behind nothing to track them with," the younger blond explained.

After a long silence, it was Yufi who asked sickly, "How could you have found all that out without being—being—"

"Tortured?" Ed asked quietly, and she nodded. He lifted his shoulders in a small shrug, then said, "Back the very first time I met you, I had gone to Wutai with a woman trusted by your father and your people, and was representing Shinra at the time, even though a full-blown war was going on in that timeline. It gave me a chance to talk with both Godo and the Kaoin who survived. This is what I found out from them then. So no, there was no torture involved, though I'm sure it helped that I was willing to act as their intermediary."

"...But you've never met me at the Palace first?" she blinked.

"Nope. I met you at the fishing village I first arrived in Wutai at," he agreed, looking amused. "One of the first things you told me was that you'd never seen someone from Shinra with golden hair or golden eyes like a cat's before. Then you told me you had a cat, but it was more interested in chasing mice than playing with you."

After a shocked pause, everyone else dissolved into giggles, even Carbuncle, as Yufi answered, "Yeah, I probably would have said that, too, if I hadn't gotten on an airship to Midgar yet."

"And the big question now is how we handle the situation," Lady Shinra commented, gaze on Ed. "Since you feel keeping her here and training her as a Turk is the best bet—and is actually valid, as much as I would rather not have a child so young in our uniform—what do you feel is the best way to handle this, Edward?"

Ed paused for a moment, then sighed at Minerva's urging him to share. Finally, he offered, "If you have a way to get in touch with Godo and rework some of the aspects of your current truce, you can present her to your husband effectively as a peace offering. She'll keep some status and need a guard, but she'll be free to go to school or do some training in whatever she wants. Illis is usually fantastic as a guard, and Reno's good, too, but I have no idea if any of the ones I've never met before would be able to do it as well as or better. She takes best to people who are direct and will catch her at her games.

"Anyway, part of the agreement would effectively absorb Wutai into Shinra, but in a way in which Godo keeps control of his forces, his taxes, and his people. Your husband doesn't actually _want_ a Reactor in Wutai, he just wants control of the land because he's a control freak. If Godo would take care of protecting and supplying the various resort towns and build or allocate one in Wutai as a resort town which is in the temperate zone people out here most favor, the President will normally go for it, even if that means creating a new department.

"In turn, Wutain troops would be responsible for keeping places like Icicle Inn and Costa del Sol safe, which is fewer people Shinra needs to devote to keeping them safe. Also, by default, Wutai needs all its resources and taxes to become the main supplier for all of those resort towns, and by extension, the Wutain workforce providing them. That way, if it's worded right, the President gets his control, but that also means he has to stay out of Wutain affairs, and only if Godo's input is needed in a meeting does he need to come to Midgar for it."

The others stared at him in amazement before Lady Shinra commented, "Then I suppose I had best get to work. And some photos to assure Godo that his daughter is fine would be good."

"I can do that," Kariya agreed.

"_Yay!_" Carbuncle cheered from under the table. "_It's about time!_"

After a startled moment, everyone laughed, and Yufi dove under the table to catch and examine the Summon curiously.

FoWD

She was almost an hour late getting back to Wall Market to meet Ruluf, and Sirra was _not_ happy about that. Still, the job had been successful, and she'd gotten a decent payout for it, so timing aside, it was worth the effort. She'd have to finish her monster clearing later, once she'd gotten the data she needed from the Guard. It didn't take too long to find the right alley near Warehouse Eight, and she slipped up behind him much the way she had when she'd found him that morning. He had his hands in his pockets as he relaxed against the wall, but she could tell by tension in his shoulders that something had happened. Probably something not good.

"So, how goes the investigation?" she asked softly as she leaned on the alley wall next to his street-side corner.

He pulled out his lighter and a cigarette to shield his mouth from view as he had last time, then said, "Standing around here waiting for you turned out to be an ear- and eye-full. Damn, Sir, how the _Hellfire_ did you get caught up in this shit?"

"Can you try not being so cryptic with the bad news, '_luf_?" she sneered in reply, and he gave a faint snort at the 'fluffy' implication she'd given his name.

"Let's go somewhere we can sit and chat—no way I'm doing it here," he replied.

She made an irritated noise, but said, "Fine, let's head for one of the bars I frequent. And if you take off your tie and jacket, no one will realize you're a Turk."

He gave agreement, and they were soon at 7th Heaven, the man without his tie and jacket, as he'd stashed them in one of his old hidey-holes on his way.

When they had their drinks and were sitting tucked into the corner, he said softly, "So, our boys in Eight have two major payloads right now, one the kind of high-powered weapon noted in the bounty, and the other from a rival runner's shipment they intercepted. Only, the 'other thing' isn't a weapon, it's scientific research data stolen from Shinra. I also saw someone matching Fuhito's description observing the warehouse, so it's highly likely he wants either or both of those things. He may even have been the intended recipient of the stolen data. That means a merc going in there and eliminating them would leave him free to take any and everything from there he happens to want."

"Which means he's got _a lot_ of people here right now," Sirra agreed with a soft hiss. "That'd explain my current Wutain count around here."

"What do you mean?" he asked warily.

"Well, not just Wutain, but just from the time I got here to now, I've seen three times the number of new faces I should be seeing, and very few of them look like the people from other parts of the Slums," she scowled again as she re-phrased.

"Do you know the faces in all eight Sectors well enough to track that?" he blinked.

"No, but people who've been living in the Slums have a particular 'look' to them—Hellfire, even you and Reno have that look. Ansha, Verde, Emma, Alvis—you've all got it," the lady Turk/merc snorted softly. "It's pretty distinctive next to new arrivals, and I've been seeing _a lot_ of new arrivals. Maybe half-and-half Wutain and not? Some may really be people thinking they can make a living here, but what about all the rest? 'Cause like I said, there's too many of 'em. And I passed several in Wall Market on my way to meet you. They're just waiting for the merc who took the bounty to act, so I can't wait long."

Ruluf sat back to think as Sirra swirled her drink absently—until he suddenly smirked and said, "I have an idea. All you have to do is let me know when you're going to eliminate them."

"Tonight. This shit needs the cover of darkness," she replied immediately. Then she smirked at his raised brow and pointed look upward. "More than normal. I'm aiming for around eleven, when they've mostly let their guards down. And I need to go buy silencers."

"Check with Kelio, the merchant just down the way from Corneo's Mansion—he's one of Corneo's, but he usually has things like gun and rifle accessories behind the counter. And it'll let them see you doing things which can easily be taken as prep for the job so they don't decide to act on their own before you get the chance," he offered, then rose.

"I _know_ how to do my own job, asshole," she glared at him as he laughed, gave her a wave, and walked out. Then, she smirked and muttered, "But Kelio is a new one. Looks like I'll at least pay him a visit soon."


	54. 53-Deepening

**A/N:** If anyone else isn't getting email alerts for PMs arriving in your FFN inbox, please find the 'help' button at the bottom of the FFN main screen and let them know both that you aren't getting those alerts, and that you would like to be able to keep doing so.

Deepening

Tifa had spent most of the helicopter flight in puzzled silence, wondering at how..._familiarly_ the Turks treated Cloud. It was like they were personal friends of his, even though he'd never met them before, even giving him permission to go sit at the controls in the front with Verde. She'd caught a glimpse of the book the blond man had given to Cloud to read when he'd climbed aboard, and it had been a book on engineering—something she'd figured he wouldn't know anything about. She didn't know if he'd be a good one, but he had read the book with an intensity she knew meant he was _studying_ it, like it was a lesson for school he found fascinating.

Mostly, the ride had been quiet, though Duain (1), the boy chosen for SOLDIER, had begun bad-mouthing Cloud, and when a warning from Illis hadn't stopped him, Cloud had finally gotten up to sit with Verde in the front for the rest of the flight. That he hadn't been sent back to join them gave all three Nibelheim natives pause—it meant Verde _really had_ given Cloud the right to sit with him in the front. Illis also hadn't been surprised by that, and had actually given Duain a good, hard whack for his bad behavior. Of course, that had left him feeling both put out and cautious, and the two girls just felt confused.

When they'd landed, there had been a SOLDIER Second and someone from the Science Department present to meet them, but no one else. Since Duain and Kalsi (2) were to go with the two waiting for the helicopter, that left her wondering who Cloud was supposed to go with. She knew she'd be going with Illis to her next mentor and minder, but...that left Verde to take charge of Cloud.

"Illis?" she asked suddenly as the two waited for Verde and Cloud. What _were_ they doing to take so long?

"What is it, Tifa?" the woman asked, meeting her gaze.

"Why wasn't someone from an engineering department waiting for Cloud if that's what you brought him to Shinra to do?" she asked. "I mean, the book Verde gave him..."

"He'll be doing engineering," Illis agreed, looking amused. "But not for Weapons or for Urban Development. He's going to be a Turk who will create, remake, and repair our gear and weapons within the Turks, while still doing everything _else_ the Turks need to do."

"A Turk?" Tifa gasped in shock, producing a smirk from Illis—but then she realized what _else_ the woman had said and asked warily, "Doesn't that mean he's doing more work than other Turks?"

"Nope. Turks don't work that way—it's part of our job description to capitalize on _all_ of our natural skills. His happen to include engineering, so he's going to capitalize on it, and his engineering requirements will be fit around what missions he does based on priority. If our weapons are damaged or we're prepping for something especially dangerous, his priority will be getting that ready for us, while his experimental projects will get put on hold for awhile. If no one has dire need of any gear, but a mission comes up which his combat and technical skills are especially suited to, that will take priority. He won't be doing any more or less work than the rest of us unless he chooses to do more."

"Oh," Tifa answered, sighing with relief. She then glared at the helicopter and asked, "What's taking them so long?"

"Verde is probably showing Cloud the shut-down procedure for the helicopter. We can go ahead to our destination if you want?" Illis asked.

"...Will I see Cloud again if I leave now?" the girl asked after a momentary pause. She wanted to stay close to him for just a little longer, feeling nervous about being alone around unfamiliar people in a strange, new place.

"He'll be joining us for supper," the woman offered. "He and Verde first have to go to a meeting with our Director and his Second to work out what will happen with Cloud and under whose direction. More accurately, the decision won't be made until sometime tomorrow, but for right now, they need to meet him and ask some questions they can use to arrive at an answer."

The girl hesitated a few more moments, hoping Cloud would appear at the door with Verde and they could all go together. When he didn't, she looked up at Illis and said, "I think we can go, because it's boring just waiting around here." She would have to get used to it, anyway—being on her own without familiar people around.

At the words, Illis nodded and led her inside and to the elevator, where Tifa stared out at the city through the glass with fascination. They arrived at their floor all too soon, but when she saw the Turk's amused gaze, she pouted—everything in Midgar was so _new_ to her! Regardless, the woman didn't say anything, just led her to a door on the floor they'd stopped at and knocked. A minute later, another Lady Turk opened the door, and Tifa was surprised to see someone who obviously had Wutain heritage, but the woman's cobalt blue eyes were proof she had more than that in her. The two were invited in, and Tifa could hear and smell something cooking, making her look for the source—

Only to stare in shock as she caught sight of the cooking appliances in the kitchen, and the cookware itself. Without even thinking about it, she made her way into the room, dazed and awed by what she was seeing, not even realizing she had started talking. "You have ceramics! And glass! And is that a deluxe roaster? Oh, Shiva, you even have the newest peelers—and the blender! How did you get one of those? My father said they cost as much as his yearly wage! Are those knives really—"

She was cut off by a laughing voice as a hand rested on her shoulder, making her turn as the apartment's owner said, "I've been collecting them since I became a Turk, and not only are our average wages higher than any Reactor Foreman's, but we get hazard pay on nearly every mission we do, which often increases our monthly wage ten-fold. I still had to save for two years to comfortably afford the blender, though. It's good to know you're so interested in cooking, because you're going to be doing a lot of it from now on."

"Will I get to use equipment like this to do it?" she asked eagerly.

"We're not sure about the specs for the kitchen you're destined for yet, but with people like Professor Hojo and Scarlet, the head of the Weapons Department, involved in it, I doubt it will be second hand pieces like the main cafeteria has. And no, you won't be working there. Ever. You'll be working with Commander Angeal Hewley, who you'll meet tomorrow, and me to learn the specs of what you'll need to make to properly feed Turks and SOLDIERs, and you'll be learning how to take and work with instruction from doctors and scientists on how to adjust meals depending on situations at the time."

"Like what kinds of situations?" Tifa blinked in surprise. It was definitely sounding like a restaurant instead of a cafeteria.

"In the case of Turks, those orders will come from doctors, and will normally be because we've been injured or become ill, so need certain things to recover. There are also Turks who have issues eating certain foods—allergies, an inability to eat a certain food because of flavor or texture, or other similar reasons. SOLDIERs don't have allergies, but there are some who can't stomach certain foods, just like with the Turks. Your orders for their meals will normally come from the Science Department and will be directly related to their state or phase of infusions or other experiments they're participating in, or because they were injured severely enough to need more than a few hours of recovery time," the woman explained with a smile.

"...So high protein is probably going to be a requirement..." the girl mused.

"But that doesn't necessarily mean meat, and one of the Turks can't eat meat anyway," the older Turk replied. "So, what could you give him that would still count as protein in the kind of quantity he would need it? That is, assuming he was going to be needing all that extra protein in the near future."

"_Must_ you start her lessons _now_, Ansha?" Illis asked with a tired sigh. "You two may be great talking about details of cooking, but I'm going to pass out from boredom if you keep it up in front of me."

Ansha raised a brow at the other woman and asked, "Does that mean I should stop expecting you for breakfast twice a week?"

"Completely separate thing, that," Illis replied dismissively.

Tifa had to giggle at the exchange and throw in, "But, if—Ansha?" She paused to make sure she had the name right, and when the woman nodded, she went on, "Cooks for you and you have a 'special need', then she has to think about that to cook for you. So, should she not put in the time or effort to do that, which would also mean you couldn't eat here anymore?"

"Okay, kid, you're missing the point," Illis replied in a dry tone. "She _doesn't_ need to put that effort in while I'm sitting here as a guest she's not supposed to be ignoring, and you and she will have _plenty_ of time to go over those things after I've left."

"I suppose there's some truth to that," Ansha admitted in mild amusement. "But only because I'm expecting more company momentarily."

"Cloud and Verde?" Tifa asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm expecting them, too, but not for another half an hour at least," Ansha smirked—only for her front 'hall' closet door to pop open and a blond young man stepped out, followed by a nine-year-old Wutain girl and an orange haired man in the Turks' uniform. Tifa gaped at them as the Wutain girl happily babbled about the 'awesome hidden door' and 'could they get another one made for her if she moved somewhere else soon?'

"Where the Hellfire did the Wutain brat come from?" Illis asked in bemused annoyance, cutting off the younger girl's words.

"Where did they _all_ come from? They couldn't have just been hiding in the closet—it's too small!" Tifa gasped.

"The next apartment over has no door to the hall," the orange haired Turk told Tifa dryly. "So, there's a door between the two bedrooms—my apartment has that one—and Ansha added this door. That way, Edward—" He paused to motion at the long haired blond young man. "—has more than one way to leave the apartment without necessarily resorting to climbing out the balcony. And this girl is Princess Yufi Kisaragi, who decided to hand herself to Shinra, and it was just lucky it was Ed's apartment she picked so Lady Shinra has a chance to run interference and damage control." He then looked up at Ansha and added, "And, she was the one who triggered your alarm, but she apparently hid in one of the kitchen cupboards before I could find her the first time I went looking."

"I see," Ansha answered, gazing at the girl thoughtfully. "Well, I'm sure there's enough for her to eat, too, since one of the basic codes of cooking for groups is—"

"Make sure you prepare more than just for your number of guests, because you might have unexpected guests show up or your invited guests might be really hungry," Tifa immediately said eagerly.

The older man looked amused as the blond huffed a small laugh, but it was the orange haired Turk who commented, "Yup, that there's chef material."

Tifa blushed faintly at the words, not sure if she was pleased or embarrassed—but quickly forgot all about that as Ansha asked her, "Would you like to see if you can pick up the meal preparation from where I left off, Tifa? If you think you can, it's all yours."

"Really?" she asked eagerly. When Ansha nodded, she asked, "If I have a question, can I ask?"

"If it's about a dish you're not sure about the next step in preparation, yes. If it's about ingredients, we'll be talking about that once the others have left, so hold it until then," the woman told her, looking amused and very happy at the same time.

"Okay!" Tifa eagerly agreed, heading back to the stove to check on the dishes being prepared. She was getting to cook already! Maybe being on her own here really wouldn't be so bad?

FoWD

Sirra had managed to get everything together she thought she'd need by nightfall, and had even done a scout around the warehouse—and turned in her other two completed bounties. The escort was already paid, so it just needed to be marked as complete, but the bounty office was paying her for the other, so she got that, too. Since the half-Wutain had been there, she'd asked him about the one who had put out the bounty on the goods runners in Warehouse Eight, and he'd told her 'a Wutain Turk' had put it out, ID and everything. When she'd asked in surprise about 'a Wutain Turk' doing so, he'd described a man with dark brown hair cut short and glasses. Fuhito. Probably using Kariya's ID, which hadn't been fully shut down in the hopes of tracing it.

Regardless, she said nothing about that, and just agreed the situation must have warranted the Turks not being seen there, then went about her business. On her look around the warehouse, she'd let Fuhito's guys see her, and had pointedly looked straight at them to let them know she was aware they were there. By the time she got back near the time she'd be going in, they had all disappeared from the area, all but one she thought she saw on the roof of the warehouse across the way, which was lacking a number entirely. As far as she knew, it had never been given one, not just that its number had gone missing or faded over time—it had no number registry, she'd checked once while she'd been bored in the office one day years ago.

She had ignored that and made her way to the fire escape, silently making her way up it to the windows at the top of the building. If it was like all warehouses (or most of them, at least), there would be a walkway just below those upper windows, and things like cranes and pulleys would be fixed to the ceiling within reach of that walkway. It was possible there would be a section of the building which would have smaller, functional rooms—an office, maybe a smaller-scale storage room or a few, a bathroom—they would normally all be stacked on top of one another in one area so the rest of the floor could be left. After all, that open space was meant for massive degrees of storage, and taking up main-floor space with rooms wouldn't be practical.

Outside the window she had the best chance of opening quietly, she waited for the walkway patrol to pass the window again, opening it just enough to slip her gun nozzle—or more accurately, the silencer attached to her gun nozzle—through the crack she'd opened. When the man passed, she was ready, shooting him through the heart. He went down quietly, and she went back to waiting, knowing the second patrol would be by shortly—and would be more focused on his fallen comrade than on his surroundings, not realizing the other man had been shot until too late.

And, sure enough, she was able to shoot him between the eyes before he could sound an alarm, and he also fell silently, having been crouched over the other man's body.

Once those two were out of the way, she pulled the window open enough for her to slip inside, then mostly shut it behind her as she took a quick look around. This warehouse had no other rooms on the main floor, but to the narrower side of the building, the upper walkway to her right was interrupted by rooms with large windows overlooking the main floor. That meant one was a control room for the cranes anchored to the ceiling, but there were likely at least two others, all inter-linked, and it would be difficult to approach without being seen because of those same windows. No one was in the control room—it had no curtains and the lights were off—but the other two were suspect, and she was nearer the curtained rooms.

She looked around again, knowing she needed a place to hide, and quickly. There were two guys down on the main floor for sure, and it would only be a matter of time before they came looking for their buddies. The curtained rooms also left her a sitting duck anyone looking out from them would be able to see. The only place she likely wouldn't be seen or found was in the ceiling rafters, so she quickly moved to the pulley tied to the rail a few feet down from her entry point and began climbing. Once in the rafters, she assessed the new state of things for a moment, knowing already that the bulk of the members were going to be in one of those two rooms with the curtains.

Past experience dictated the three rooms would have doors linking them, and the boss would be in the middle room. The control room had the consoles operating the two cranes in the room, and possibly other things—and from her new vantage point, she could see two men in the room. Since they were lounging and just chatting with one another, not only were they not expecting trouble, but they weren't actually doing their duty as guards. If she assumed the boss was in the middle room, then the room she had come in closest to was where the rest of the members who didn't have their own homes were sleeping. Below her, down on the main level, she could see three men who periodically ran checks around the perimeter but otherwise just chatted, much like the two in the control room.

Their guards were down even more than she'd have thought from illegal goods runners. Why wasn't Fuhito just getting AVALANCHE to march in and do the task himself?

A moment later, she knew why—if everyone thought the Turks had done it, no one would be looking for him.

Elimination.

With a faint sigh, then a cocky smirk, Sirra pulled out both handguns and shot downward at the men below her. Thanks to her new silencers—they'd cost a pretty gil, but they were worth it—no one would even notice the soft 'ping' which came with each shot, and the sounds of their bodies falling to the floor were louder. She then paused to decide on her best action from there, but made her decision quickly as she realized she couldn't let sheer numbers interfere.

Back before she'd become a Turk, she'd have relished in the firefight, but she'd learned better since then, and from actual trips to the Northern Crater, it was a change in her way of handling things which was entirely viable. In the Crater, if you made a lot of noise by fighting a lot of monsters with weapons as loud and obvious as guns, you'd attract ten times that number. If you knew very well a Behemoth herd was within 'roaring' distance of a pair, you either left the pair alone, or you made sure the rest of the herd couldn't react when you went after the pair. As such, she'd begun perfecting ways to choose her frontal combat battles, and this wasn't a case of frontal combat.

Crowd control was easiest done with magical sleep, and she didn't even have to be in the room to do it—the curtains weren't quite fully closed, and that small opening would be their undoing. With Seal and All paired, she closed her eyes to select a target in that room, then activated the pair, feeling it spread to its maximum of eight. To be safe, she repeated the process by 'targeting' someone not yet influenced by Sleepel, and felt it touch five that time. In other words, she'd saved herself a total count of thirteen. The middle room, sadly, had the curtains fully closed, so she'd be going in there blind, but she'd pretty much already known that. And to be sure of her success, she also put the two in the control room to sleep.

Yeah, part of her still thought killing people in their sleep was cheating, but it was also painless, and unless she had a reason to hate someone, she didn't really want to see them in pain, in her way or not. It was less stressful to her to let them die peacefully, without even knowing they were dead, than to kill them in battle—or worse shit. That the blond stray the Guards were taking care of apparently trusted her not to harm him spoke a lot about how true that part of her held. And because there were only two people she hated, and he wasn't one of them, she'd never have a reason to torture him.

Shaking off her thoughts, she made her way through the rafters to the larger room, slipped inside quietly, and shot every one of them through the heart. Thirteen, as she'd thought, no more and no less, and none she'd missed. There was indeed a door from that room to the middle one, but it was solid and locked—though she didn't dare actually touch the handle in case it alerted the one in the middle room. From there, she returned to the rafters (to be safe), made her way to the control room, and ended those two the same way before eying the door warily.

She had a terrible feeling something was about to go wrong, and because she got those feelings so rarely, she _listened_ to them.

A moment later, the door exploded off its hinges, and it was only the sense of foreboding she'd had which had caused her to be braced against the impact of the door hitting her. It still knocked her back, and knocked her down as it fell on top of her, a bent and uncomfortable weight, but she didn't take serious damage and didn't lose her grip on her weapons. She _knew_ she couldn't stay where she was—no recovery time—so forced herself to _move_, dragging herself out from under the fallen door and forcing herself to her feet, guns in hand and ready to lift and shoot.

Only to freeze as she saw the man who stepped out of the room.

"...Gorgon..." she breathed as she just stared at him. Even with sunglasses on over his eyes, she'd know that huge man anywhere. And somehow, he'd gotten larger and much more muscular since she'd met him more than ten years ago, when she'd been seventeen. That meeting hadn't been pleasant. What puzzled her was that he'd already been in top form then, and couldn't possibly have gone through the changes he apparently had...

Then, her experience as a Turk dealing with SOLDIERs kicked in and she _knew_ he'd gotten some sort of enhancement, probably Mako based, or at least partially Mako. It was more than that, too—he'd up and vanished one day about a year after he'd gotten to her, and even though she'd searched for him, even using the Turks' resources, she'd found no trace of him. How he was here now, she honestly had no idea.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't little 'Dragon Hunter' Ratri," the man replied with a smirk. "Putting yourself in my path again, are you? You already know what your fate will be, so you might as well surrender and make it easier on yourself."

The words made her feel ill, because she did indeed know what he would do to her, and death was a kinder fate than that. She suddenly _felt_ for the Guards' little stray, and for the first time in a long time, feared for herself, too. She'd gotten stronger, but so had Gorgon. There was no way she could know if she was strong enough to defeat him, and now, she had no choice but to give it her best.

It was only through force of will that she stayed calm enough to think, to plan, and to observe—but then she wondered why her gaze kept focusing on the mark crafted into his belt buckle. A moment later, her mind flashed back to the 'fake' SOLDIER Firsts who had tried to take those two little girls, the Rui girls, from the Turks sent to retrieve them, and she realized the mark on his belt was the same one _they_ had worn.

_What the fucking Hellfire? _(3)

**Notes:**

(1) + (2) No, these names aren't important, and you don't have to remember them.

(3) Keep in mind that the Guards in the Turks are the only ones actively aware of Deepground, and Sirra, as a Hound, isn't in the know. Even Verdot only has passing awareness of a group by that name. No one would have been expecting Sirra to meet one as a mercenary, so Tseng also didn't feel it was prudent to share, so she's mostly going into this blind. Her saving grace? Nero and Weiss were apparently the two sent to get the Ruis, and Sirra and the Guard sent with her (Terri in this case, but it would have been someone else in other dimensions because Terri would have been dead) already survived and successfully escaped two of Deepground's strongest.


	55. 54-G's and S's

G's and S's

Knowing she had no further time to think on things as the man took a step towards her, Sirra lifted one of her guns to shoot the control room window, shattering the whole thing. In the next moment, she jumped for the edge of the window as she holstered her guns. She already knew her hands had to go down on the console just in front of it, her feet had to go on the ledge itself (otherwise she'd cut her hands on the sharp glass still stuck in the frame), and she had to immediately launch herself at the crane hook, which was only just barely in her reach. When she caught hold of it, she felt her body weight start dragging it downward, even as her momentum caused it to swing forward. She also knew it wouldn't last—if Gorgon had half a brain, he'd hit the control mechanism to stop the cords from lowering.

Sure enough, he did a few moments later, as she was reaching the end of her swing, which actually caused her to smirk. As she felt the jolt of the hook being halted, she kicked her feet forward, and released the hook so she could follow the momentum into a flip. The flip let her get her hands down first so she could absorb her landing impact by tucking and rolling, and come back up to her feet. For the most part, it also worked—

Until she felt a wave of cutting power hit her back mid-roll, and felt herself being thrown several feet from where she had been, and landing hard on her side and back. Like when the door had burst from its place earlier, she knew she had to move, so quickly forced herself to crawl for the nearest shelter—one of the stacks of crates in the room. Once she was behind the stack, she leaned heavily against the nearest one, panting with a hand over her mouth to reduce the noise. Her whole body hurt, so she activated Cure 3 to see to her injuries as she tried to recover, her gaze moving towards the damaged floor where she had been.

It looked like the same kind of damage the General and Commanders did when they unleashed some of their stronger abilities and their Limit Breaks. Thinking back to the two who had gone after the Rui girls, or at least after Shelke, she also realized they had been very lucky to get away, and these weren't run-of-the-mill SOLDIER types or some random Mako enhancements. She really had no idea what she was dealing with, and a test of Sleepel on him told her he had some method of being immune to status effects.

His damage ratio was huge, and if his temper was anything like it had been in the past, he wouldn't wait long before starting to destroy things. Though, that also would have the benefit of destroying any weapons Fuhito would have grabbed, so maybe she could use that? Either way, as she heard him laugh, she knew she couldn't stay where she was—he was far too close to her now.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, little _mouse_," he taunted in an almost sing-song, smirking tone. He'd called her a mouse last time, too. She began moving, recovered enough to move into a low, silent jog behind the crates, knowing she was in very dangerous territory. "What, no commentary? No denial?" he prodded, sounding very amused that time. "Yes, you know your place _under_ me now, don't you?"

She sneered at the words—only for the crates where she had been resting before to splinter with the force of whatever he'd hit them with. Back when she'd first met him, he'd fought with a spiked mace which he had modified (or had someone modify for him) to become a spiked chain mace for greater range and maneuverability. She wasn't sure if he was still using one, but probably. The door had just been a fist, but now that there was a 'combat' situation, he'd probably pulled out his actual weapon.

By then, she'd reached the other end of the stack of crates and could peek around it. Yes, he had a spiked mace, with the chains dangling from it which indicated it was also the chain type. But, he also had a high-powered rifle on him which was in a style she'd never seen before. How had she not seen either of those weapons when he'd stepped from the room upstairs? Thinking back, she realized he hadn't been wearing them—chances were, he'd only picked them up before following her down to the lower floor. His expression was already turning annoyed, so she drew her guns, darted across the open space to the next stack, and shot at him as she went.

It was useless as he spun in her direction and stopped all six shots she'd gotten off either on his mace, or just let them hit his arms. She kept moving as she reached the shelter of the boxes—only to feel an impact which threw her back against the wall of the warehouse as the crates between Gorgon and her exploded violently. Her guns hit the floor and were promptly covered by debris, even as several sharp pieces struck her chest, arms, and legs. While gritting her teeth kept her from screaming in pain, it didn't stop her own keening, pained sound from reaching her ears, though she hoped the sound of the still-falling and settling debris covered that.

Still, she had to force herself to move, the dust in the air her only cover and every motion agony with bits of wood and metal sticking out of her body. It wasn't until she'd managed to get behind the next set of crates that she let herself collapse, just resting for a moment before she pulled out some of the worst of the objects stuck in her. Worst as in, causing the most pain and doing the most damage. It only took a few moments, teeth gritted against the pain the whole time, before she could finally cast Cure 3 on herself. That stabilized her enough to move again, to head into the corner and around the side of the stack of crates there, where she stopped again to pull the rest free and finish the healing. Thank all of Ifrit's Hellfire that she'd learned such actions and focus as a Turk or Gorgon would have already won.

"I'm getting tired of this cat and mouse game, Ratri. Just get over here and let me fuck you to death," Gorgon snarled—he'd just realized she wasn't where he'd figured she would be. And anyone who would actually do what he had just demanded would have to be a major fucking moron, so she just gave an amused smirk and crouched low to keep moving along the crates to reach the door to outside.

Suddenly, there was another snarl, wordless and furious, and she instinctively ducked, covering her head and neck with her arms. It was a good thing she had, as the building rocked and absolutely everything in the room splintered in all directions. Her ears ached from the sheer noise volume, and while there was no heat, there was a pressure which physically and painfully forced her down. Dust filled the air to the point where she couldn't see a damned thing, or even barely breathe, and several pieces of crates and whatever had been in them had landed on her.

By the time it all stopped, she was actually scared to look up and see what had happened, but as had been her companion that whole night, a spike of fear warned her she _had_ to move. That time, she didn't stop to think. The moment she could get her body moving, she shoved herself up and bolted straight for the door, only to find it locked. Before she should try to break it open, she felt like she had to move, so dodged to the side, only barely missing being hit by the head of his mace. It did not, however, destroy the door or the wall—it stopped just short of that.

A glance around the room showed scraps, none higher than a foot tall, and most not even that. There was nowhere for her to hide, and staying against the wall would be more harmful to her than getting out into open space. When Gorgon tried to cut her off, she dove aside (and got several small cuts out of the deal in all the debris) and bolted for the middle of the room.

Only to feel sudden weight on her back, forcing her to the ground on her belly and pinning her down. Gorgon was on her legs, hands gripping her wrists, and she began having flashbacks to the last time as he chuckled—that same cold, cruel sound—and said, "Gotcha."

Shaking off the flashbacks—there was _no way_ she would just _let_ him do that to her again—she focused on what she had left to use. Two daggers. One was too small to kill with, but it could damage vital points like tendons and arteries. If he had the kinds of enhancements she felt he did, chances were those would be temporary, but they would still hurt like all kinds of Hellfire and give her much-needed time. Whether she could use them or not was dependent on what he figured the best way to keep her subdued was, and he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box in that regard.

He proved it as he moved one hand to her head to hold it down (painfully, yes, but she could deal, especially with all the adrenaline in her system right then) and moved the other to her waist. She reached up for the arm holding her head, aiming to have her wrist lined up with the tendons and arteries on the underside of his arm. Since she used the hand where she'd hidden the small dagger, he literally didn't see it coming as she flexed her wrist in just the right way to cause it to shoot upward into his arm. He shouted in surprise and pulled his arm back, so she forcibly rolled to her side and bent so she could reach the backs of his ankles. Even Mako couldn't completely fix a hamstring. She brutally slit the backs of both of his ankles as deeply as she could, ignoring how his still functioning hand tried to yank her back and how he yelled in pain as she did.

In the next moment, she let him pull on her, just so she could jab that dagger into his other wrist the same way she had the first. "You bitch!" he snarled at her, several times, as he worked to force his hands to her throat to try to strangle her with hands which wouldn't close. It still hurt and somewhat worked from pressure alone, but with him leaning over her in a blind rage, she could easily drag her small dagger across his throat, which also forced him back before he could do any more damage to her. It was only then when she forced herself to sit up as she drew her proper dagger and stabbed his heart so he would be forced into unconsciousness, and only after he fell did she sever his head from his body.

Everything went still and silent for a moment, and she just sat there, trembling as she tried to process everything that had just happened. The feel of someone else's healing magic caused her to start and look up and around in fear—only to stop when her gaze fell on a worried-looking Ruluf as he slowly, cautiously approached her.

"Are you okay, Sir?" he asked gently. "Need a hand out of here?"

"Just—fucking _leave me alone_," she replied, keeping her voice low as she tried to pretend her hands weren't shaking.

For a long moment, he just stared at her, then asked, "Are you sure that's the best idea right now?"

"Why are you worried _now_?" she asked bitterly. "Instead of when he was trying to—to—"

"I was getting rid of anything Fuhito could have gotten and killing their boss, who, by the way, would have shot you just enough to maim you so he could watch the show of that guy raping you," Ruluf replied bluntly, motioning at the walkway above, on the side opposite the control room, where the man in question was laying on the walkway, dead and with a gun still in his hand.

"And that was _after_ getting caught in his Limit Break, too, just so you know." He turned his back to her long enough for her to see the damage he had taken as well. "Believe me, I'd have helped you if we didn't have AVALANCHE chomping at the bit to get in here, and they have some people with them the likes of which I've never seen before, and I _don't_ want to tangle with those—whatever they are, which are probably not far off this guy. What was _with_ him, anyway?"

...She didn't want to tangle with any other guys like the one she'd just fought, either. And, she was in no shape to, so maybe he'd had a point. She also had to acknowledge the fact that, in her desperate battle against Gorgon, she'd completely forgotten Ruluf had been planning to be there to try to handle the Fuhito end of things.

With a small sigh, she said, "We have—a history. I was only seventeen then, barely started as a merc...You can guess it didn't go well. For awhile, he vanished entirely, and I made a habit of keeping track of him so I could avoid him, but...His belt buckle has the same mark on it as the belts of the two fake SOLDIERs who tried to go after the Rui girls." She blinked when his eyes widened and his face notably paled.

Ruluf nodded and said, "I'll pass word on. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Yeah, you can get out of here so it doesn't look like we're working together," she muttered, looking away and slowly rising to go back to the area where she thought her guns were. When she heard him sigh faintly, she added, "Thanks for the heal, though. I don't think I'd have remembered to do that on my own after what that Hades-be-damned fucker put me through..."

He gave a faint snort and replied, "Fucker, literally." She blinked, but didn't turn back to him, wanting to find her guns and get out of the building _before_ her strength ran out. "If you're sure, I'll go then." She just nodded, and soon after, she felt his presence fade.

Only about five minutes after that, she'd found her guns and made her way to the door she'd tried to leave by earlier. Shooting the lock off it, she took a moment to steady herself and straighten with her usual assuredness, then made her way to the merc's residence in Sector Six. She'd turn it in when she woke up in the morning.

FoWD

Genesis was practicing with several of those in his unit when he felt someone watching him, and glanced over at the door to see Sephiroth there. When their eyes met, the General made a slight motion with his head which reminded the red haired man of a 'come here' motion. Checking the time showed him it was nearly noon anyway, so he called a halt to the practice and sent the others ahead of him to freshen up and eat before he stepped into the hall.

Sephiroth had waited just outside the door, so he asked, "What did you need, General?"

"Could you _please_ stop calling me that?" Sephiroth asked in reply with a tired sigh.

With a blink and scowl, the older man snapped, "That's not what you came here for."

"No, but that point is no less valid," the silver haired man answered dryly. "I offered you lessons on your new abilities. I believe you have the rest of the day free?"

"Barring an emergency mission, yes," Genesis agreed, wondering what kind of lesson would actually _take_ the whole day.

"Once you've eaten and packed up something for supper, meet me on the landing pad on fifty-nine," the General told him. "This will be the longest lesson, but anything else, even unexpected abilities, should be easier to handle once you have the foundation. If you don't already have a mission, Lazard won't give you any until after we've returned—I've already talked with him about it."

With a surprised blink, Genesis had to assess the statement, but finally, he offered tentatively, "I'm _really_ not in the mood for cafeteria food today, so would you rather join me in town for lunch? We can both order something half-decent for supper that way, and leave from almost anywhere in the city. Otherwise, you'll be waiting for a pretty long time for me to get back."

To his surprise, Sephiroth paused to assess the invitation, but then asked, "Do you know of a place in the city we can leave from which is both out in the open and likely to be deserted?"

"The rooftop of the theater on LOVELESS Avenue," Genesis answered in amusement. At the younger man's raised brow, the red haired man elaborated, "I go there so often I've pretty much appropriated the roof, and I've even sometimes spent the larger part of a day up there. The only thing they might be surprised by is how someone other than Angeal or Kunzel is with me. We could even return there and step back inside from the rooftop, giving us the perfect alibi."

Sephiroth chuckled at the term and answered, "We're planning a lesson, not a criminal heist. Though, due to the current factions we belong to, the alibi would make them think we were arguing over the meaning of LOVELESS, so...I suppose we can do that."

With a small nod, Genesis said, "Wait for a bit while I freshen up, then—I should only be about twenty minutes, tops."

At the sliver haired man's nod, the other SOLDIER headed for the changing rooms as well, where most of the guys were just finishing up and heading out. He quickly did so as well, grateful that Shinra staff laundered clothes left in the locker rooms, too—it meant SOLDIERs and Turks always had fresh, clean clothes to change into after their training or after missions. He'd managed to replace his coat through Angeal while he'd been in the hospital, so he felt like himself again by the time he'd had a quick shower, dried off, and dressed in his uniform with his new red leather coat over it (though he still had to break it in). Finally, he rejoined Sephiroth, and the two headed out of the Shinra building as they discussed some places they could eat near the theater.

When they finally chose a place, it was due to the simplicity of neither of them having been there before and the fact that they'd stopped to 'argue' right outside its doors. While the food was fantastic, the company was both awkward and somehow pleasant, given how they weren't trying to antagonize one another anymore, but it was a major learning curve for both of them to interact in such a way.

Then, Sephiroth asked, "So if words, or what you call 'syntax', are so important, would you actually say there's a difference between someone saying the phrase 'I'm sorry for the trouble I caused' or saying 'I'm sorry I committed such-and-such crime'?"

Genesis sat back and said bluntly, "There's a _huge_ difference between them. In fact, when a person says the first, what they're saying sorry for is having _gotten caught_. That's why the President says it that way when he gets caught cheating on his wife or someone in, say, the Science Department gets caught doing illegal experiments. He's not sorry he did the action—or let it happen—but if things had gone according to plan, he wouldn't have been caught, and if he hadn't been caught, there'd have been no issue in the first place. Someone who says they're sorry for committing the crime by name normally means it, at least temporarily. If they say the first, you have no reason to trust them, at all. Why?"

The silver haired man looked genuinely surprised by the response, then asked, "So...people like Dante got away with doing what they did for so long because we were all misinterpreting their 'apologies'?"

"That's what they _count on_ to get away with shit, even the President, and even Mayor Domino. Actors, singers—people who are famous or in positions of power—they _all_ make a habit of it, though the common man does it, too," the red haired man affirmed. "The men in my unit can't get away with it when they talk to me, so they either leave or keep it tightly under wraps, but I only have that kind of authority over so many, and Dante was one of Angeal's. Since Angeal intrinsically doesn't get manipulation, he completely misses wording flaws."

"And while I catch some of them, I also miss some—and this was one of them..." Sephiroth sighed faintly as he looked a bit miserable.

"What made you ask that, though, if you didn't think anything was wrong with the wording?" Genesis asked curiously.

At the words, the younger man brightened and gave the other SOLDIER a small, wry smile as he said, "Rufus commented to me not long ago that you seem adept at 'turning words', and as much as I didn't 'know' something was wrong with their wording, I guess I started to question that after the incidents with Auryn—er, he's being called Edward now, isn't he?"

Genesis had to grin and say, "Yes, he's taken his old name back." Then his face fell a bit and he added, "I guess that would have been a warning for the whole of SOLDIER, and while I don't regret killing Dante, the fact that there could be others like him—it's not a pleasant one."

"Definitely not," Sephiroth agreed. "How do you stop them from doing it?"

"By not letting them get away with apologizing for getting caught, to start," the red haired man answered in vague bemusement. "But that's only half of the task, and giving out cleaning chores, even utterly disgusting ones, normally doesn't help, so I tend to—spar with them, instead. And I don't go easy on them."

"You hospitalize them," the silver haired man scowled.

The older man shrugged. "Once." When Sephiroth blinked, he explained, "Men learn not to commit a certain act because they learn to associate committing it with feeling a lot of pain they would rather not feel, even with our enhancements. By extension, they stop doing it. So, when I know they've committed a serious offense—or a minor one once too often—I spar with them, and I don't hold back. They get a single 'bashing' as a punishment, but I'm careful not to go overboard to the point where they won't recover, and once it's done, they can get on with their lives, knowing what they'll get if they do it again. It resolves it more quickly, and I have very few repeat offenders."

"...Is that why no one, not even Lady Shinra, says anything against your method?" Sephiroth asked in shock, not having realized there was actually a valid reason for the other man's periodic fits of rage.

"Yeah," Genesis agreed, still looking somewhat bemused. "What did you think that was?"

"...The President pulling strings to make sure his poster boy didn't get dinged for an uncontrollable temper," Sephiroth admitted, and his expression was clearly ashamed.

The red haired man sighed as his shoulders slumped, but he said bluntly, "And if you'd checked my own disciplinary records, you'd have seen that I got soundly disciplined by the President for a very real fit of temper early on. It's a public record, in fact, and the three people I hurt included a Turk and two paper-pushers from Secretarial. I may be his poster boy, but it's for exactly that reason that he couldn't let me be out of control. I'm only not being punished for my burnout fit because there was a tangible reason for why that happened, one which wasn't my fault. But if your opinion of me is so low...what are you actually expecting out of these lessons?" He felt miserable asking it, but he knew he'd feel worse if he didn't, and he wondered again why the General was subjecting himself to the presence of someone he so reviled.

For a long minute, the younger man was quiet, but then he said softly, "Since your burnout, since I spoke to you that day about these lessons, I'm starting to realize Rufus had reason to call me shallow for having so poorly misjudged you as a person. I can't just fix that all at once, but I'm hoping we'll be able to at least start fixing it as a side-effect of these lessons. What I 'expect' out of them is that you'll apply yourself to them the same way you do to your combat and magical skills, because that's essentially what this is. Even before I realized how wrong I've been about you, I knew you'd at least apply yourself well to something which will help you fight better. That was never the issue."

For a long moment, Genesis just stared at him in shock before managing a small, "Holy Alexander and Hellfire..."

"What?" Sephiroth asked in annoyance. "I was trying to be serious and—"

"Gener—..." the red haired man began, cutting him off, then he paused and started again, "Sephiroth, I don't think you realize _you're the first person_ who _ever_ thought they may have misjudged me, and you're the _first person_ who ever apologized for it. I have no precedent, and I don't know how to respond to you because—this doesn't happen. If someone's decided I'm flawed, they _never_ change their minds." He paused again and gave his head a shake, eyes suddenly feeling moist, even as the silver haired man just stared at him in shock. "I don't know how to answer you."

After a short silence, the other man commented, "You might want to start by facing whatever emotion has affected you so strongly that it brought tears to your eyes."

Genesis gave him a faint smile, knowing already that it was a reaction to the sudden change in his situation, a sudden release of a pressure he'd always felt. It was old pain and new hope, it was a sense of being lost and a sense of finding his way home after a long time away. There were layers upon layers of emotion attached to it, and if he'd been in his own room, he'd have wept, but here in a public place, he couldn't allow himself that luxury.

So he just said, "I think you forged the frame of a bridge crossing the gap between us."

Sephiroth gave him an amused, grateful look, and replied, "It figures _you'd_ make it sound so poetic."


	56. 55-Re-Process

Re-Process

After eating, Genesis and Sephiroth had gone to LOVELESS Theater, where the staff there happily let the red haired man and his 'associate' up onto the roof. It had taken about half an hour for Genesis to become proficient enough with calling his wings and controlling his rise and fall for them to start actively flying, but then they had headed for open skies.

Admittedly, the older SOLDIER had never experienced such flight before, and found it to be oddly freeing, like lifting a very real weight off his shoulders. Exuberance and exhilaration turned him playful rather quickly, and he was surprised to find that Sephiroth responded with amused agreeability. In a way, by how the silver haired man gave valid lessons in the midst of their play, Genesis thought he may have been expecting the reaction and had planned accordingly. Also, since it seemed the General wasn't opposed to playing in kind, it was likely the same reaction the younger man had responded with.

The thoughts also called to mind other questions and points he could ponder, not the least of which was of his view of himself with his wings. A 'freak' he'd called himself, and had thought he'd have been horrified or feel unstable by having those wings. Instead, they were comfortable, freeing—truly like an extension of himself—and while part of him thought he should be horrified by feeling that way, the larger part of him reveled in it. He felt like he fit in his own skin for the first time in a long time, and he wondered if sticking to his 'human' side had actually been harmful to his psyche in its own way. Then again, he hadn't known he was half planetary entity until Sephiroth had bluntly told him so.

Was the length of time Sephiroth had given for their first lesson due to exactly that desire to play he had suspected Genesis would also have?

It was actually a minor point, so turned his gaze downward to check his location—only to stare as he realized he and Sephiroth had migrated as far east as Kalm and as far south as the mountain range separating Midgar from Junon. Had they really traveled so far in so short a time? Wait, had it been 'so short a time'? Quickly, he reached for his PHS and pulled it out to check the time—

Only to hear Sephiroth shout, "Look out!" as something hit his side and arm hard, causing him to drop his PHS to the ground below.

A glance showed him he was now surrounded by disoriented sparrows which had just come up from the mountain forests not far from where he was, but they had risen behind him, hence how he'd missed them. Thankful for their apparent ability to hover in place without effort, he just sighed and let the flock pass him before looking downward.

"Are you okay?" Sephiroth asked apprehensively as he joined the red haired man, hovering about three feet away.

"I'm fine, but I dropped my PHS, so I'm going to go look for it. In the meantime, do you have the time?" Genesis asked.

"Something _scared_ those birds, and for them to have run into you, probably something _actually_ dangerous," Sephiroth pointed out, but he still pulled out his PHS to check it. He then quickly added, "Almost six in the evening."

Looking amused, Genesis replied, "If that's true, don't you think we should stop whatever it is before it reaches the nearest town?" He began flying downward as he added, "And we should find a place to eat, anyway!" It didn't take long to reach the canopy of green leaves around where he thought the device had fallen, or to quickly land there. Silence was one of his key skills when he wanted to use it, like when he was assessing a situation, and what Sephiroth had said about the birds was true—he'd have to be careful in case something had come south from the Crater.

As he began scouting around nearby, primarily looking for his PHS but also keeping an eye out for any indications of monsters in the area, Sephiroth landed gently nearby, expression exasperated, but not offering any complaint. After watching Genesis for a bit, the silver haired man began searching in a similar pattern working opposite the other man so they'd cover more ground in a shorter time. Normally, the older of the two would have expected that kind of silent communication from Angeal, but had never found it to hold true with anyone else, so seeing Sephiroth do it shocked him.

Putting that out of his mind, he kept looking on his chosen path, somehow trusting Sephiroth to come find him if he found the fallen PHS first. After several minutes, he heard a noise which caused him to freeze and just _listen_ for a few minutes—which also resulted in him hearing several more, rather mixed, noises. All of them came from the same direction, and they ranged from the general sound types he heard from dog-like beings (since things like Lature Danos also made them) to Behemoth-like sounds to the eerie chuckling sounds of Funny Faces. What was more surprising is that they apparently weren't fighting with one another, even though they were all in the same place.

He tipped his head to the side and peered around for his PHS before deciding to head for the sounds, fully assessing (and fully silent) at that point. He kept his eyes largely on the ground, though alternately looked forward to see if the monsters had come into view yet—only to pause when he caught sight of his red PHS caught in the branches of a tree not far ahead. He was rather bemused by that, and more bemused when stepping up to the tree to retrieve it put him in exactly the right place to see the group of monsters through the foliage.

After a quick check of the time (now past six), he put it back in his pocket and looked at the monsters again. The first thing which caught his attention was the sheer variety of them, then the fact that they were all powerful breeds from the Northern Crater and Cave (the chuckling sound had been from a Shadow Monk, not a Funny Face, and a Shadow Monk was easily a hundred times stronger). Then, he also realized they were apparently...burying something?

With a sudden bad feeling, he pulled his PHS back out to send a text to Sephiroth saying: _Found my PHS, and found what scared the birds. Mixed group of monsters from the N Crater and Cave. Come join me—quietly._

About two minutes later, the man replied with: _Above the group, see what you mean. Burying a dark glowing object about a foot across. Plan? Or just attack and retrieve the object for study?_

After a momentary pause (seriously, Sephiroth was _letting him_ take the lead?), he replied: _I feel like something else from the N is nearby. These aren't too strong, but something stronger might join them when I attack. Could you be lookout?_

To his surprise, after a pause, the General's reply came back in the affirmative: _Will do. Stay safe._

Pushing aside his shock to deal with later, Genesis put away his PHS and drew his sword as he jumped forward, first aiming for the Shadow Monk—it could take control of his mind, and he really didn't want to deal with that just then. With the Shadow Monk down in one hit, his next target was the Behemoth, whose guard he bypassed by putting his hand down on the shocked monster's head, then shoved fire almost straight into its brain. When it went down, the others all screeched—_loudly_—and launched themselves at him in vicious attacks.

It took him several minutes of ducking, dodging, and fighting to actually defeat them all, especially when loud Dragon roars sounded from above and distracted him. Thankfully, it was a short distraction when he saw Sephiroth above, intercepting the Dragon Zombie which had obviously been on its way to join the attack Genesis had launched. Knowing the other man was going to watch his back, he focused back on his own battle, though the reminder of his need to do so had come in the form of the Iron Man in the group nearly breaking his ribs (thankfully with the flat of his sword, not the edge).

He had never actually been more grateful for his enhancements as he was right then, though, because even just the numbers would have been a tough fight, and adding to that the fact that they were from the Crater...It meant the danger level was much higher. Though, the danger was also exhilarating and was part of the reason he had wanted to join SOLDIER, so he wasn't complaining. Before long, the only enemy he had left was the Iron Man, which was only marginally damaged by fire magic, so he had to switch to something else—the Enemy Skill Aqualung.

With the end of his battle, he looked up to see Sephiroth fighting a Dark Dragon and a Dragon Zombie, though after using Sense on the latter, he realized it had to be a different one from the first, because it had barely taken any damage. As he watched, the Dark Dragon fell to the ground not far away, but in the trees just far enough away to not be seen. Jumping, he accessed his wings and flew into the air to help Sephiroth with the last Dragon Zombie, distracting it with fire so Sephiroth could sever its head. Battle over, both landed by the hole where the dark, glowing thing was.

As Genesis crouched to start pulling the dirt away from the object, Sephiroth asked, "How did you know there would be others?"

"The only other record we have of something like this is the one that Second in Angeal's unit—Fair, I think—gave Lazard when he returned from Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon. I don't think who or whatever is making odd groups of monsters behave like this would be careless enough not to leave additional guards a second time," Genesis replied, clearing enough dirt from it to see—a gem?

Yes, it seemed to be gem-like in its structure, but gems didn't glow the way this one was. On the other hand, it could have been a Mako Crystal, though he had never before seen one colored like this. It was like it was sick somehow...

"There's definitely something not right about it. My first guess would be a Mako Crystal, but I've never seen such a Crystal colored like that. Not even the purple color of Independent Materia is at all alike," the General murmured. "Would you be opposed to letting my mother test it?"

"There's that," Genesis sighed faintly. "And yes, she can. I think we should tell them to send Fair back to where he saw the other group and see if he can find the place again to dig up another one."

"Why would it be so important if we have a sample now?" the younger man asked, gaze somewhat puzzled.

"A pattern. We need to find out if there's more, and if there's some sort of pattern to them. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm _sure_ we _don't_ want to leave these laying around, especially not in the pattern Jenova's monsters would be putting them in."

"We'll let Lazard know when we get back, then. In the meantime, let's collect it, then find a better place than this to eat so we can finish today's lesson," Sephiroth agreed. Genesis had to give a faint smile at that, but nodded agreement.

They both finished digging up and pulling free the strange gem of sorts, then took it and found a place where monster bodies weren't scattered around to sit and eat. Soon after, they were back in the air, the lessons once more underway.

FoWD

The next several days were completely surreal for Ed.

Tifa kept walking into his apartment to wake him and forcibly feed him something new she'd made (she even brought food for Yufi, who was still staying with him), and even brought him most of his other meals, which left Kariya feeling somewhat put out. Every morning, Ed went with either Doriss or Kariya to the room where Lucrecia had prepared his chemical bath, and around the fifth time he went, he started not falling asleep, just going a bit dazed for awhile. The food Tifa was bringing for him actually helped revitalize him, and she admitted it was tailored for his situation with help from Ansha and Doctor Crescent.

Besides that, Tseng and Verde periodically turned up with Cloud, and Doriss and Genesis turned up at random moments. As it turned out, they literally needed to test Cloud for the system he worked better in, but to make gear for the rest of the Turks, he couldn't actually be allocated to either the Guards or the Hounds. It had surprised everyone to find he mostly got along with the Turks, though they all thought Cissnei had helped in that with her 'little big sister' habits. Cloud had even had a suggestion for the project Ed and Genesis were working on with the poisoned spikes. Though, Genesis had only managed to stay for more than a few minutes twice when he'd attempted to visit. At least Doriss' visits were mostly normal.

The blond Turk also made a habit of turning up and fetching Kariya while everyone else was out so they could help Edward work with his wings, which were getting stronger by then. He was able to fold them himself, with a great deal of effort—it would still be awhile before he'd be able to use them to fly, but the muscles were getting stronger. In a way, it was just as well, because he was still trying to wrap his mind around the difference between a chimera (which he wasn't, by Minerva's own word) and a shapeshifter (which he was, also by Minerva's word).

And Yufi had found his basket of Materia, which had prompted him to warn her that he wouldn't be pleased if any of them went missing. When he explained that they were hidden because they were powerful, destructive _weapons_, she decided not to touch them. For that, he was thankful, though it had helped her to decide not to challenge him on the point when she saw (and felt) him drag one she'd tried to make away with right out of her hand without moving from several feet away. The incident had also prompted her to ask how someone so powerful had apparently been tortured badly—to her, someone with his skills shouldn't have been able to be caught.

What she had learned in response to her query had caused her to go silent and pale for about three and a half days before getting back to normal, which had also worried the Turks—who were actually enjoying her company, in both the Hounds and the Guards. Then came the shocker.

Yufi bluntly asked the Wutain Turk while Tseng and Cloud were visiting with Auryn, "You're the Kaoin who survived the family's torture and murder, aren't you?"

Tseng first looked at her sharply, then turned a questioning gaze on Ed as silence fell. Finally, when the younger blond didn't answer the questioning look, just giving the older Wutain a small 'go on' motion with his head (Ed was leaving him an out to refute the query), he asked in reply, "Why do you want to know?"

The girl scowled and replied, "No asking a question instead of _answering_!"

For a few more long moments, Tseng sat silently, then sighed faintly and admitted, "Yes, I am, but I'm not the person I used to be, and would never take the Wutain throne regardless."

"Yay!" Yufi cheered, throwing herself on the startled man to hug him. "I _do_ have cousins!" She then paused, still hugging him, and corrected herself with, "Well, one of them, anyway." Pulling back to meet his almost fond and almost wary gaze, she said, "You _really do_ think my father sent your attackers to you."

"Didn't he? He's the only one who has command of Crescent Unit," Tseng replied, gaze shuttered, revealing nothing.

"Then why does he have shrines to all of you which he visits nearly every day?" she asked dryly. "That's why I figured it out, because you look like an older Ren Kaoin, their youngest son and second youngest kid. And I hear a lot of people talk. Not everyone in Crescent Unit wants peace or just to defend Wutai—they want to _crush_ Shin-Ra. And your family supported Father's choice not to attack them in _their_ lands. I think your family was stopping a lot of other things they wanted to do, too, so they thought they'd have more freedom or power if you weren't there. Father never knew about who attacked you, either—he'd have never been so broken up about it or treated your shrines so well if he had."

With a long sigh, the Wutain asked, "Edward told you about that, didn't he?"

"No," she replied, looking amused. When he gave her a pointed look, she blushed faintly and said, "Well, yes, but everything I just told you wasn't things he said, Tseng. Those were things that just started making sense that I've seen and heard once I started thinking about it."

"Um, sorry if this is rude, but how could someone as young as Ed know anything about Wutain politics from about ten years ago?" Cloud cut in to ask in confusion, producing a snort from Ed as Yufi and Tseng both blinked at him in surprise.

"He's one we're protecting because he knows a lot of things he's not supposed to know," Tseng replied in vague amusement, turning to Ed. "Why didn't you tell me any of this sooner?"

"You wouldn't have listened, even if I had," the younger blond replied blandly. "Since Yufi opened the door this time, you were a little more willing to listen. But it's true the members of Crescent Unit who attacked your family did it without the Emperor's knowledge and left no traces. Both you and Godo have suffered horribly from that, but the wedge it drove between you can't just be removed, even once both of you know the truth. You've both changed—your life isn't in Wutai anymore, just to start. And those members of Crescent Unit who attacked you then would kill you now if you announced yourself and went back, so it's better it doesn't become known, other than maybe to the Emperor so you can both have closure."

"And how will this _not_ become known with a nine-year-old being privy to it? They aren't exactly known for discretion," Tseng pointed out.

"Yeah, if you were talking about Shelke," Edward answered in amusement. "Yufi takes pride in her skills as a Ninja, and that means being able to keep secrets—and yes, that's proven in every scenario I met her in. You can tell her virtually anything and she won't tell another soul unless she's either given permission or people will die if she doesn't. Oddly, even _Fuhito_ trusted her to keep his secrets in the ones where AVALANCHE and Wutai were friendly to one another, and Fuhito doesn't _trust_ anyone."

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose as Cloud asked, "Isn't Fuhito the guy who blew that hole in Midgar?"

"That would be him, yes," the Wutain man agreed.

"Who's Fuhito?" Yufi asked in confusion. "And why would we be friends with a guy who would put a huge hole like that in Midgar? It would have killed a lot of people, and all of them are just—normal people, not people like SOLDIER or the Turks."

"This is the first time he hasn't had two others helping him play nice with others," Ed replied sardonically. "So every previous time, he had a lot more influence in Wutai, especially since his forces freely helped Wutain troops push Shinra's forces back."

A long silence fell, then Cloud asked tentatively, "Sirra's report through Ruluf said there were a lot more new faces in the Slums, and they were about half-and-half Wutain and not. Most of the places Shinra's done harm aren't in Wutai, so a terrorist group should actually be at least three quarters non-Wutain, even if they're based in Wutai. Does that mean half the Wutains coming into the city are the members of Crescent Unit who want war?"

That time, it was Ed who pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "Probably. Which also means they're planning to attack and slaughter people in the city under the guise of AVALANCHE. At this point, I don't know that we actually have a way to stop it."

"So all the best observation still wasn't enough," Tseng sighed. "Well, we tried."

"Knock, knock!" Kariya called from the doorway between the bedrooms. "Lady Shinra has some word on Yufi's situation."

"We'll join you shortly," Ed called back to him as the others blinked in surprise. "Anything else before we head over?" he asked as Kariya gave agreement and shut the door again.

The response was a negative, so the four rose and made their way to Kariya's apartment, where Lady Shinra, Doctor Crescent, and Reeve all sat, and Shelke stood behind Reeve's chair, grinning like a loon. When she saw Ed, she happily called, "Auryn!" and ran to him to hug him around the waist, producing laughs from the others. Then she gasped and drew back to say, "Oh, it's Ed now! I'm so sorry, I'll—"

"Shelke," Ed cut her off, his lips twitching in amusement as she looked sadly at him. "It's okay. I knew it would take people a little getting used to when I switched back to my old name. You'll get used to it, and in the meantime, I still know you mean me, so we're all good."

After a silence, she grinned and hugged him again as she said, "Thanks, A—Ed!"

"So, you have news on Yufi's situation?" Tseng asked Lady Shinra once Shelke let the blond go to peer curiously at Yufi, who returned the look equally curiously.

"Yes, good news, in fact," Lady Shinra agreed. Her gaze turned to Yufi as she said, "Princess, I have rarely seen a man more relieved to know his child was safe than I saw your father when I visited him. I think Edward has the right of saying he cares about you but doesn't know how to express it any longer, so he's agreed to leave you in our care. With the agreement he has offered my husband, the negotiations have gone well, and he'll be here in about a month's time to finalize the agreement. He'll visit with you then, but otherwise, he'll largely keep in touch by PHS—he plans to get one while he's here, and asked that we see one into your hands as well. He's going to try to be more of a father to you, even if we see to the daily lessons and care you need. Is that all right with you?"

Yufi had turned her gaze away from Shelke at the words directed at her, but she looked away from all of them for a minute before finally saying, "I guess it's okay."

"Good," the woman agreed. She then looked up at Auryn and said, "And Doctor Crescent and Reeve have been working on something for you—a process which sped up significantly with Shelke's help. It's a prototype only, but it will help the Doctor keep better track of things she needs to know about so she can fix them before they get as bad as the incident with over-exposure to people you don't deal well with."

When the woman stopped speaking, Reeve rose and picked a box up off the floor by his feet—making Ed blink at the similarity in size to the one Libby had been kept in back in the first dimension—and offered it to him. The man said, "She won't activate until you give her a name, but her main functions are companionship and medical monitoring—that's why I needed Doctor Crescent's help. She's been tailored especially to your needs."

Slowly, Ed opened the box the man held, staring in shock at the furry, white thing inside it. After a moment, he lifted it out, seeing a white version of the dog-rabbit Libby had been, designed in looks to a T, and the only noticeable difference was in color. Before he could stop himself, he folded the mechanical being against his chest as tears ran silently down his cheeks. The others looked alarmed, but he didn't care—even if he knew this one wouldn't be another Libby (even another one with the same skills as Libby's wouldn't be his first Librarian), this was the first time since then where he was being offered back one of the things which had been one of his biggest losses.

It was mind-boggling to him, but it was many layers of relieved and pained and memories he couldn't process quickly enough to keep the emotion at bay, so he just didn't try. He wasn't sure if that meant he calmed down sooner or later than if he had tried, and he honestly didn't care—he needed a name for her which was her own, not just a repeat of Libby's. Finally, the tears had stopped so he wiped his cheeks, then held her up (still ignoring everyone else's worried expressions), and said quietly to her, "Your name is..."

Again, he paused, then finished, "Elicia (1)."

**Notes:**

(1) Yes, naming her after Maes Hughes' daughter is something Ed would do, partly in memory of the people he won't see again (so they're all long-since dead to him) and partly because, like Nina, she was someone who was genuinely kind and tried to help others feel better. This is a medical companion, so it would also make a lot more sense than giving her Libby's name. To be clear—Ed didn't visit with Elicia often and actually barely remembers her, so for him to give it to this 'proto-Libby' isn't actually 'giving her someone else's name', it's revitalizing an old name which now has very little meaning to him (mentally, it's been over 300 years since he last saw Elicia in Amestris). Though, that's also still a tie back to Amestris and to the first Elicia he knew, so it's still important (and heart-felt).


	57. 56-Introducing

Introducing...

The white dog-rabbit formally said in a voice similar to Shelke's (and almost just like Libby's, but more chirpy), "Name registry complete," then opened her eyes to show a color like aquamarine—another difference in color between her and Libby. Looking up at him, she said happily, "Hello, I'm Elicia! What's your name?"

"Edward Elric, or just Ed," he told her, knowing she was still programming herself to effectively bond to him. "Some people still call me Auryn, too."

"Okay, good to know!" she agreed, ears twitching in a slow, methodical motion which he knew from Libby meant she was processing data. "You're my new best friend, but I don't know anything about you! That's really rude, isn't it?"

She looked so dismayed at the words that he actually began to laugh softly and told her, "We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other, since you're going to be staying here now, right?"

"Oh! Yes, I will be! That's great, then!" Elicia replied much more happily. He lifted her to his shoulder, where she pulled herself up and hugged him around the neck as she settled there.

When he looked up at the others, he could see a curious mix of worry and amusement on their faces, so he asked sheepishly, "I guess I have to explain that, don't I?"

"That would be nice, given your reaction to seeing her," the woman agreed with a small smile and worried gaze.

Ed looked over at Elicia as he reached up to pat her head—she purred happily at the action, making him chuckle—then looked back at them. "In the first one, Reeve, Shelke, and a few others made a black version of exactly this kind of being in looks, but the black one was able to store mass quantities of data and project it holographically. She was made for me as a research companion, and could even read energy levels of things around me—say, the energy output of the Reactors. Since that first one, I've never gotten anything even remotely similar. I didn't just lose a database, I lost a close friend—a younger sister. Elicia is so similar to the original at a glance that I couldn't help but react to that, and the most shocking thing is that you all did this without even having any input from me about her. But, she couldn't purr, which Elicia can."

"The similarity would be because Carbuncle dropped definite hints, so since it knows so much about you, we thought we should take it seriously," Lady Shinra answered. "Now we know why, and—this is a good thing, yes?"

"Yes," he agreed, wondering how _his_ Carbuncle knew anything about Libby when it had largely been Rufus' Carbuncle who had known her. Either way, he felt a lot better having Elicia's weight on his shoulder. Then, he blinked and asked the woman, "By the way...Where _is_ Carbuncle, Lady Shinra?"

"It told me it needed to rest for awhile in spirit form and to have you summon it back later. That was last night, and things have been peaceful for a few weeks, so I had thought to ask you to summon it again in a few days," Lady Shinra replied.

For a moment, Edward paused to think about what she was saying, then asked apprehensively, "Did you and Carbuncle happen to overhear something which would be cause for worry in the near future, Lady Shinra?"

Everyone's gazes moved from him to her in worry, and she shook her head. "I didn't, but I know Carbuncle has a greater range of hearing than I do. It might have heard something I didn't. Why?"

"Because Carbuncle knows _exactly_ how long it can stay in tangible form for before starting to take on biological functions, and that's easily a few _months_, Lady Shinra. If it wanted to rest _now_, it wanted to be sure it would be _able_ to stay here for the next few months because you're in very real, very current, danger," Ed explained tersely, and everyone else in the room blinked. He held his hand forward and called Carbuncle silently right to it, making the others stare with wide eyes as the small Summon dropped easily to the ground, then blinked up at the white robot on his shoulder.

"_So who's that?_" Carbuncle asked curiously, pointing at Elicia.

"I named her Elicia," Ed replied dryly. "She's a medical companion in this case. But what did you hear that made you want to reset your time just now?"

"_I think the President is going to let Deepground out _way_ ahead of schedule, and the only reason he would is if he feels he has control of them. He knows now that Verdot can't kill Lady Shinra, so he's going to get Deepground to do it. That's kinda what it sounded like to me, anyway. I need to be able to be here all the time, and the only chance I'll have to go back to spirit form is if you and Lady Shinra leave the area for a few days,_" Carbuncle explained, then turned and hopped onto the table to sit facing Lady Shinra. "_Even if I can 'protect' you from them, it depends on what they do to try to kill you. I might be forced back to spirit form anyway, and you'd only have yourself left unless someone like Vincent could reach you fast enough. I'm not a guarantee of survival against them, especially since magic, or even Limit Breaks, literally don't work on some of them._"

Silence fell, then the woman sighed and nodded. "I'll keep my weapons—both of them—on me, then. We can't do any more now. So, was there anything else we needed to discuss today?"

"Should I maybe start working on a personal warning system you can carry on you that would let you know if someone who had a weapon approached you? I think it's possible to make it scan for an ID card, and if the card it finds—or doesn't find—isn't on its list, it'll send a signal," Cloud offered suddenly, and Ed's lips quirked in amusement.

"Isn't that rather advanced for a beginner engineer?" Reeve asked in surprise. "Though the idea is sound, you trying to do it yourself at this stage would be very difficult and probably take longer than we have. I need to work on the Reactor efficiency before I devote my time to something else, but Shelke can work with you while I'm busy, and you both can come to me if you need any advice. How does that sound?"

"If you think it's viable, I'd like to see such a thing just now," Lady Shinra nodded, turning her gaze to Cloud. "So, if you're willing, that can be your first actual product for the Turks. All of the Turks can have one as a default, and we can work out others who will need them while you're developing it."

The blond fourteen-year-old's gaze met Shelke's, and when he saw her grin and nod, Cloud agreed, "Okay, we'll give it a shot, then."

It didn't take them long to set up a time and place, then Reeve, Lucrecia, and Lady Shinra all left while Shelke stayed behind to play with Yufi. Since the two girls went back to Ed's apartment almost right away, Tseng and Cloud headed out and Ed stayed at Kariya's, much to the older man's amusement. Shortly after, he heard the noise coming from next door and suddenly wasn't so amused anymore.

"...Should we have suggested they go find a gym or indoor park space to play in?" Kariya asked the younger blond as he motioned towards Ed's apartment.

"That wouldn't actually have made a difference in their noise level whenever they made their way back here, you know," Ed replied in amusement. "The best option is probably going to be getting them that Battle Pets game and letting Shelke make it into something Yufi can talk to. And yes, Kariya, you're going to have to get used to them being noisy, because anytime they met, they've always been attached at the hip from then on. On the up-side, you just earned an automatic and free bodyguard for Shelke, because Yufi _is_ protective of her. _Very_ protective."

The man looked amused by the words, then smirked and said, "I guess I should invite Shalua for supper so she can meet her new honorary sister, then."

Ed snorted in amusement and agreed, "Sure. Have fun with that." He then moved to the man's couch with a book to read, Elicia curling up on his chest as he settled comfortably, planning to stay there until Shelke and Shalua had left for the evening.

FoWD

A couple weeks had passed since Sirra had taken a trip to Costa del Sol to relax for a bit after the incident with Gorgon. She had needed the time away to try to calm down, but this time, it had actually been easier than the first. The reason? Not only had he not been able to rape her, but she'd beaten him herself, fair and square—she'd proven her own strength and ability, even if it had wrecked havoc on her at the time, something she wouldn't have had to fall back on if Ruluf had helped her fight him. There was no need to fear a dead man, and once she'd sorted herself out, she actually felt stronger now because that wasn't hanging over her head anymore. Her training as a Turk had proven itself in a way she'd honestly never expected it to before, so getting back to work came sooner than she'd expected it to.

Speaking of work, she was lounging in her seat at Nightcap in Sector 3 that evening, eyes mostly closed as she stared upward and only 'watched' the other patrons who were in her peripheral vision. It was subtle—she was sure most of them didn't even know how much attention she was paying to them—but effective enough to alert her to things she needed to pay attention to. Nothing of actual note had happened in any of the places she'd been in since she'd established herself at them, and she hadn't yet seen traces of Fuhito, AVALANCHE, or the Wutains who were newcomers to the city. Of course, splitting her time between three different places left a lot of openings in her ability to observe.

The reason she was at Nightcap was because she'd noticed the bartender had been jumpy since she'd returned from her week-long vacation, though it had likely begun before her return, and she wanted to keep an eye on the place until she knew why. Disregarding the other two was a definite no-go at this point, and if she never went anywhere but Nightcap, _everyone_ would be suspicious, but she was now normally taking two days in a row at Nightcap, one at each of the other two, another two at Nightcap, and so on. If anyone bothered to ask her, she could easily say she was mostly working in Sectors 2, 3, and 4 (which was actually true), so this was her closest place to unwind, hence her more frequent presence there. She didn't think anyone had even noticed, except maybe the bartender.

Unlike 7th Heaven, which nearly completely filled its space with no extra, Nightcap was a larger building and had stairs in the main room leading both up and down from the main room near the bar and the doorway into the cooler room. There was no kitchen like the rear space at 7th Heaven and the Drifter's Lounge had, but there were bathrooms there. It was the upstairs and the downstairs which were singularly interesting at Nightcap, as those were private rooms for rent, the ones upstairs for meetings and games and the ones downstairs for—_other_ activities. There was also a large 'wine cellar' down there, but most of its goods weren't wines, they were all assortments of other kinds of alcohols.

Several times, she'd seen groups of Wutains go upstairs (not so obviously, but obvious enough to someone watching for it), and equally as many times, she'd seen mixed groups of Wutains and non-Wutains go downstairs, sometimes after having been upstairs first. Today was no exception, and she'd seen quite a few people already head either up or down, none of them regular customers who used the main bar or the rental rooms. She was only familiar with so many of the regulars, especially with her shift in schedule, but other than one obvious couple who went downstairs and four guys planning a high-stakes poker game going upstairs, everyone else was out of place.

Then, the door opened and she saw a Wutain man enter the bar, one who fit the description she had of Fuhito. It was all she could do to stay relaxed while he approached the bartender, spoke with the now much more jittery man, then headed downstairs. There had been no exchange of funds, not that she'd seen, and she'd been watching for a payment exchange in case this was a one-off. It obviously wasn't, nor was the bartender in agreement with having Fuhito there, making her wonder what the Wutain was holding over him to force his acceptance.

Her drink ran out a few minutes later, and the bartender came over with the replacement drink, prompting her to open her eyes as he put her fresh glass down and ask him softly and bluntly, "So what's got you so jumpy, Barkeep? Got a customer bothering you?"

He froze for a moment, then sighed and picked up her empty glass as he told her quietly, "It's not something you can do anything about. I just need to learn not to open my big mouth when someone asks for something I have reservations about. All I would have had to do was say 'no, I don't have anything like that here,' and they wouldn't even be here now. As it is, I'm stuck."

"You're the owner. You can throw them out," she pointed out. He shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because I have things here that can get me in trouble, and they know it," he replied tiredly. "Thanks for the thought, Ratri, but this is my problem to deal with." With that, he walked away, and she watched him go, her gaze hard.

So she'd hit pay dirt. It had taken long enough. Now, all she had to do was get Fuhito to let down his guard, and that also meant no more changes in her schedule unless they were due to her work. She needed to be known as a regular and someone they didn't need to worry about, though she already was, theoretically.

One thing stood out about the situation—Fuhito had only recently moved here, and that then begged the question as to why, and where he'd been hiding out prior to his move to Nightcap. Again, as a merc, she couldn't personally investigate, but that wouldn't stop her from going to someone who _could_. She also wondered in vague amusement what he'd thought of the destruction of everything in the warehouse he would have wanted. Probably, he'd been right pissed about that, and he only hadn't come after her because Ruluf had let himself be seen going in and out.

And the rest of what she had to do was just waiting now.

FoWD

Elicia quickly became a fixture in Ed's life, even making Tifa's current presence there seem a lot less surreal and everything in general a lot less stressful. He had finished the three weeks of the chemical bath Lucrecia had started him with, had a fourth week added as a test to see if his cells would keep improving, and finally finished off with another week of it. That fifth and final week had just ended, and he admittedly felt a lot better than he had in a long time, but in a physical sense rather than mental or emotional. It also shocked him to realize how much the state of his physical body had been affecting his behavior, and even the extremity of his emotional reactions and the processing speed of his mind.

Those last weeks since he'd been given Elicia had also been shockingly calm, and both he and Genesis and Cloud (they'd finally chosen his Turk name, which ended up being Stroud) and Shelke were close to a breakthrough on their respective projects. It wouldn't be long before both were ready, though Stroud and Shelke's looked to be taking longer, if only because Stroud was a raw beginner as an engineer and programmer. When Shelke wasn't working with Stroud, she was with Yufi, the two girls spending pretty much all their free time together—and usually not in Ed's or Kariya's apartments, thankfully. Kariya had been both pleased and amused to find out the blond had been right to say Yufi was rather protective of Shelke, and had proven it very soon after the two had first met.

From experience, Ed knew the bomb was about to drop—so long with nothing happening was normally the calm before the storm, and all he could do was prepare as well as he could for what would come next. If Carbuncle was right, though, Deepground was about to be let out, and there was a strong likelihood they would be taking control by force. Working back through his memory to every time Deepground had come out, or been let out, always led him back to one of two general options; either they would go on a rampage and start killing people in droves, or they would impose martial law with ranks higher than everyone but the President's. By the current political climate, it would likely be the latter.

He suddenly really wished there was a safe-village in Wutai he could disappear to, but no such luck. In this case, he hadn't even met Godo when he'd visited to finalize the contract with President Shinra. Yufi and Tseng had met with him and Lady Shinra, but no one else had been invited to that meeting, and he was thankful for that in some ways.

His thoughts were interrupted that afternoon by Kariya coming into his room with his PHS in one hand as he said, "We need to go with everyone else in the building to the large training hall. Company-wide announcements of this sort are rare, but there are no exceptions other than immobility in the Hospital Wing. Think you can handle the press of people?"

"I don't have much of a choice," Ed replied dryly, though he did feel his mouth go dry at the thought. Elicia climbed onto his shoulder and patted the side of his head with one paw-hand.

"I meant, do we need to find a place off to the side or at the back for you to stand so there's a little less press of people around you, or would you be fine in the middle of the throng?" Kariya rephrased, sounding amused.

The blond had to pause for a minute to think about that before saying quietly, "I think I need to be as far outside the crowd as I can be."

"Let's go, then," Kariya agreed.

The Turk led the way to the large room they needed, quickly finding them a place at the back, standing against the back wall. Not long after, Doriss joined them as she stood at Ed's other side, clearly very tense. In the whole Shinra building, there were three massively large rooms which crossed space in multiple floors, and the smallest of those was the Academy's gymnasium. The other two were the general company gym and the training room for the SOLDIERs and Turks where they currently were, the latter of which was the largest of them. Normally, the only camera in the room led to a video feed on the observation deck near the top right of the room and separated from it by a sheet of unbreakable plexiglass, but this time, there were over half a dozen of them, and there was an additional arena in the middle of the room.

It didn't take long for the room to fill or the assembly time to come, at which point, the President stepped onto the arena and stood in the middle of it, surrounded by—the four Restrictors! Soon after, as a puzzled quiet fell, the President said, "It's good to see you all here. Now, since I'm sure you're puzzled about these four men, let me explain. Many, many years ago, I started a project which would be a long time in the making, one which would make the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company the ultimate power on the Planet. It has finally come to fruition with the assistance and guidance of these men with me, my new guards, who you can just refer to as 'the Restrictors'.

"They also act as the Directors of the new unit of SOLDIER, which is known as Deepground. In addition, Deepground has a varying power structure from SOLDIER, with a command unit known as the Tsviets, who also have their own leader, known as Weiss the Immaculate. The other Tsviets include Nero the Sable, Rosso the Crimson, Azul the Cerulean, and Argento. Know them on sight, because these five don't wear the uniform of the other members of Deepground or SOLDIER, and learn the Deepground uniform quickly." As he'd spoken, the named Tsviets, led by Weiss, and three regular members of Deepground, one man and two women (each wore a different variant of the female uniform), made their way onto the stage to form a line behind the President and Restrictors.

"Now, just to kick things off, we're going to have a small tournament between the existing combat forces—SOLDIER and the Turks—and Deepground. SOLDIER and the Turks, you have half an hour to work out your best team of eight, though I expect to see the General and Commanders in your group. You may use the room next door to choose your combatants," the President finished with a smirk at Lady Shinra, who just looked tired as she nodded.

She made her way out of the room in her wheelchair, Carbuncle curled up in her lap, and was quickly followed by the rest of the Turks and SOLDIERs. Ed latched onto Kariya's arm so he had no choice but to take him along. It only took five minutes for everyone to gather in the room next door, other than members of SOLDIER who _really_ didn't want to participate—those were mostly Thirds, and they just waited outside the room. Lady Shinra was at the back of the room, surrounded by Lazard, Verdot, Vincent, and the rest of the Turks, then by the SOLDIERs who had wanted to be included.

"What the fuck is _this_ all about?" Genesis asked agitatedly, obviously furious as he forced his way through to the Turks to stand in front of the woman.

Lady Shinra sighed tiredly and asked Verdot, "Can I count on your support long enough to get through this?"

"I rather think we don't have a choice in that just now," he replied in a bland tone.

"No, he does seem to have placed us all in the same category, regardless of our allegiances," she agreed, still sounding tired.

"The fact that he's done so makes me think we need caution," Verdot pointed out, meeting her gaze. "He specifically stated he wanted the three strongest SOLDIERs in this tournament of his, so he's trying to prove Deepground can defeat them."

The woman nodded, but someone called, "Then we should kick their asses and prove we're better!"

"And then what?" Lady Shinra asked, looking out over the crowd of combat personnel. "Have him start eliminating you one by one because you're too strong and he can't control you completely, as you still have free will?" A tense, shocked silence fell, so she went on, "But that same control he has over them isn't perfect, either, and as normally happens, the Guards will have to clean up the mess, this time alongside the Hounds. Maybe this is partly my instinct, but I've known Marius for over forty years, and we _don't_ want to show our true power now. We want him to think he has what he wants—control—then when it all falls in on him, we want to act to show him how wrong he was, on all counts."

Ed was relieved to know she didn't need direction from him to realize that point—and he truly hoped he never had to go into another dimension without her now that he knew how big of a difference she could make. Her awareness and intelligence were huge boons to any attempt to save the world.

"As his right-hand man for these last decades, I agree with the sentiment, especially because the Turks have been included at all, not just SOLDIER or the Guards' faction, in his desire to prove his power over us," Verdot agreed.

"I believe that's true as well," Vincent added.

"As do I," Lazard put in, surprising most of the SOLDIERs. "And please reinforce to Rufus that _this_ isn't his place and time to fight, Lady Shinra." At the exasperation in his voice and annoyed look at the younger, equally annoyed blond beside him, everyone could guess they had been muttering back and forth about that since the discussion began.

"Rufus, we _especially_ don't want them to know your true strength," Lady Shinra told him pointedly, and Rufus glared at her.

"I'm as much a qualified Turk as Vincent or Verdot, Mother! I have every right to fight!" he replied fiercely.

"You do, but not here, and not now. There will come a time when you'll be proving your power as a Turk, and I don't think it will take that long to present itself. I want you to be prepared for that time, not waste good skills in your father's asinine games," she told him bluntly.

After several long moments of the two staring at one another, her evenly and him with a defiant glare, he looked away and said, "Fine, but don't you _dare_ tell me not to fight when things turn sour."

"I would never dream of it," she replied with a faint smile.


	58. 57-Tournament

**A/N:** Cloud will now be known as Stroud in most situations.

Tournament

Once the issue with Rufus was resolved, Lady Shinra turned to scan the Turks and noted a blond head which didn't belong, so called, "Edward, are you able to offer us advice? I assume that's why you're here when you're neither a SOLDIER nor a Turk."

"Then how's _he_ supposed to help us?" one of the SOLDIERs sneered, which roused a few agreements to the query.

She watched as Edward drew in a breath and let go of Kariya's arm to step up beside Genesis, who was almost right in front of Lady Shinra. When the red haired man rested a comforting hand on his shoulder (Elicia was on the blond's opposite shoulder), he said, "So everyone knows this, there's only a hand-full of Deepground members who are sane, so Lady Shinra's right and you'll all have to clean up this mess, sooner rather than later. I also already know your abilities exceed theirs because of their psychotic insanity and brainwashing, so anyone who fights will have to work to make a loss look good. If a 'ring out' is a defeat option, that's actually the best one to go for, since the President still counts it as a win, despite that normally being luck or deliberate. Most importantly, it excuses you not showing your skills or having to surrender or let yourselves be defeated."

"In other words, it makes the loss easier to swallow," Sephiroth put in. "So who are the other five who should fight?"

"Also, if we have the option of choosing who will fight whom, we should have an idea of those matches," Lady Shinra added.

"That...sort of depends on if he's aiming to hit you hard right off, or if he's planning to lull you into a sense of security before tearing you apart," Edward answered cautiously, and Lady Shinra leaned back in her seat to gaze at him thoughtfully as she pondered the question.

It was true, she realized. Marius had two ways to work the tournament, and both would lead to his power. If he was arranging literal teams, rather than a basic order regardless of 'which side' the winner was on, that would also affect how the tournament played out, as well as the order she'd want to send her people in. If she could pick and choose opponents because he'd reveal his combatant before making her choose hers, that would be ideal, but if she had to decide on an order up front, before knowing all but the first combatant, she had to be ready. If he first sent a weak combatant, she probably wanted to send a strong one—he'd be lulling them—but if he sent a strong combatant first, she'd want to send a weak one.

"Isn't he going to expect us to send our strongest, period?" Anki asked blandly, cutting into the older woman's thoughts.

"In the Turks, how would you choose 'the strongest'?" Lady Shinra asked curiously.

"Besides our new recruits, all the Turks are plenty strong, but Verdot, Vincent, and Percia are actually the strongest," Anki replied. "Since Percia was trained by Sephiroth, that's not surprising in a pure combat test."

"And I would actually say Tseng is stronger than I am," Verdot put in. "He can also use any weapon put into his hands, and is one of the most adaptable fighters I've ever seen. I'm fairly certain very few people realize his actual skills or strength."

"And he has to fight Argento," Edward threw in, making everyone look at him in surprise. "And Genesis has to fight Nero."

"Why is that, in both cases?" Vincent asked cautiously, not liking where things were going.

"Argento will lose on purpose, and the Restrictors would have accounted for that in their calculations," Edward explained, and Lady Shinra tipped her head to the side thoughtfully as she recalled their discussions about the woman. "That means he's going to move on to round two, and he'll have a high survival rate if he meets one of the Tsviets then—which is likely. Similarly, Nero loses control of himself shockingly often, and he wasn't wearing restraint chains to keep his void power from activating. If he goes off the deep end while fighting, Genesis is the only one with the skills and sheer magical power to counter that void ability."

"I am?" Genesis asked in shock.

"None of the battles against the Tsviets are based on your win ratios or overall ability, they're based on how your particular skillset matches up to theirs. While Sephiroth could beat either Rosso or Azul, he can't beat Nero, would only beat Argento if she let him, and would draw with Weiss at best, _if_ he holds back. Angeal can actually only defeat Azul, but he can stalemate Argento legitimately. Genesis can't beat Azul, but can beat Rosso and Nero with his knowledge of the arrays, and stalemates with Weiss and Argento, though he's more likely to actually be able to find a way to beat them in a free-for-all. This isn't a free-for-all, though," the blond young man explained, causing a thoughtful silence.

"Will any of them use specialized skills in these matches?" Lady Shinra asked curiously.

"Probably not," Edward answered. "That would be revealing too much, too soon. He doesn't want people to think Deepground are literal monsters just now. It will still tell the Restrictors a lot if Genesis has to forcibly stop Nero, but I don't think the President will realize the importance of the by-play of who fought who as long as Deepground ultimately wins. Because it's Deepground, and they're a counterpoint to SOLDIER primarily, you probably only want three Turks to fight. If Tseng fights Argento and Percia fights Weiss in the first round, you only need one more who can win or lose, but who has a very high survival rate. While this isn't a 'to the death' tournament, Deepground members can't always control their own strength."

"Order, then," Rufus suddenly said, and Edward looked at him. "Of the eight who were obviously on stage to fight in the tournament, what order would they fight in?"

"If the President is going for a beat-down up front, Weiss, Nero, Rosso, Azul, Argento, and the three regular members. If he's going for the 'lull first' option, the opposite of that," Edward offered. "Since you want half your people to lose in round one, other than Tseng and Genesis, who have to be paired the way they are, you want the others paired poorly. If Percia fights Weiss in round one, she'll lose, but will probably be unharmed, and that would look to pretty much everyone like foreshadowing of what would happen to Sephiroth if he makes it far enough to fight Weiss, so no one would really be surprised. And I need to talk with Genesis about what to do with Nero if the worst happens while you're setting up the rest of the team."

"Go ahead, then," Lady Shinra agreed, and the blond stepped back with a curious, puzzled Genesis following him. She then faced Vincent and said, "If we're going for a loss ultimately, regardless, I think we don't want you to fight."

"How will you justify me not doing so?" Vincent asked curiously.

"First, that you have a truly unfair advantage, and that you fight exclusively with a gun," she replied dryly, and he blinked and nodded. "Speaking of, though, you'd better get your hands on a good weapon, a close combat type, Tseng."

When her gaze met the Wutain's he said, "I don't—"

Verdot cut him off as he said, "We'll be back shortly with an appropriate weapon. Come with me, Tseng."

As the man turned and walked away, Tseng hurried to follow him as he agreed in surprise, "Yes, Sir."

"...So ranged fighters in the Turks are currently disqualified?" Freyra asked with a pout at the statement.

"They are," Lady Shinra agreed. With a look at a pouting Cissnei, she added, "But hybrid weapons are still acceptable, like your combat star, Cissnei."

"Can I be the combatant, then?" she asked eagerly.

"Only if you're fighting a Tsviet, since you'll win otherwise," Lady Shinra replied dryly.

"Sure thing," she agreed cheerfully. "I'm curious about their skills after the report Ruluf passed on from Sirra, anyway."

Lady Shinra chuckled at the words, but nodded and agreed, "Which means we have our Turks, and only need to choose two more SOLDIERs. Because we do indeed need to choose strong combatants and pair them poorly, those will have to be skilled Firsts." She looked up to meet Lazard's gaze as she asked, "Who are your top picks?"

"Sandon March and Halen Vale (1)," Lazard replied immediately. "And we'll see how things go from there." He heard several complaints, so turned to face the incensed Firsts who hadn't been chosen, saying to them, "Both March and Vale are actors who joined SOLDIER because they wanted something more 'real', and because their acting careers stopped going forward after awhile. They're the most capable of all the skilled Firsts here of making a loss look good without it being noticed, and would be willing to do so in the name of later showing up the same people they're going to fight today. And, they won't take the 'shame' of the loss as badly, either, because that's what acting is all about."

"Too true," the woman agreed, nodding. "That's our eight, then, and we know everyone here will be able to redeem themselves later. Stick to using skills which are public knowledge, but anything you haven't used in front of witnesses or used only once or twice, don't use now."

With their agreement, she arranged their orders in case they needed a pre-set one, then checked the time. They still had a few minutes, so most of the Thirds and Seconds, and most of the Turks, returned to the room next door while the rest talked about strategies with the combatants or offered support. Soon after, Verdot and Tseng returned to join the discussion for a few minutes, and Tseng had a custom-made katana at his side and faintly pink cheeks as Verdot looked fondly amused. It didn't take Lady Shinra long to realize Verdot had intended the sword to be a gift to Tseng for some time, but until right then, he hadn't felt comfortable offering it, and that the young Wutain man was delighted with it.

Finally, Genesis made his way back to her, gaze terse, as Kariya led Edward out of the room, so she called the combatants to her and led them back to the room next door, Lazard, Vincent, and Verdot in the lead with her. Their eight combatants closely followed them, while the last few non-combatants dissolved back into the crowd to watch the matches, Rufus choosing a place near the front but not near either his father's group or his mother's group. His purpose in this case was observation to find patterns, flaws, and weaknesses in the Deepground combat styles.

The President called from the arena stage, "It looks like the SOLDIERs and Turks opposing Deepground have been chosen!" When the room quieted and turned their attention to him, he went on, "Before we begin, I'll quickly explain the rules. As this is a team match-up, it's one team against the other, so two members of the same team won't be paired against one another. If there's an odd number of winners versus losers in a round, the team with fewer remaining members can choose one of two options. The first is to have members fight twice or more in the following round, against two or more different opponents. The other is to call in a replacement in the current round to fight one of the other team's winners, chosen by the team calling in the replacement, and the results will be adjusted in the following round.

"Other than that, the rest is fairly simple. The order of the first round can be randomly chosen, but once set, both teams run down the list from first combatant to last until only one is left. We'll have the electronic display board up above showing the tournament chart as it progresses forward so it's easy to keep track. There will be no killing in this tournament, so winning can be achieved in three ways—disabling the opponent, forcing a surrender, or managing a ring-out. Ranged weapons can't be used, only close combat and hybrid weapons used exclusively in their close combat forms. There's no maximum time for a match, and only the team members can't leave this room until the tournament is over. I've arranged snacks for everyone part-way through if it goes longer than the three hours left until five o'clock. Any questions, Janelle?"

"Can a team member who was severely injured be moved to the Hospital Wing, or do our medical staff need to be ready to quickly fetch their equipment?" she asked. He raised a questioning brow, so she reminded him, "The Turks don't have enhancements to rapidly heal from injuries, and depending on the pace of the tournament, even SOLDIER or your new team may not be able to heal so quickly before their next match."

He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and answered, "If they've lost and are out of the tournament regardless, they can go to the Hospital Wing if needed. If they're still in the tournament but are somehow so badly injured, our medical staff can bring their equipment here. Most of our medical staff carry some basic first aid items on them at all times, so it's highly likely they're already prepared to tend minor injuries." The woman nodded, so he asked, "Anything else?"

"No, that was all," she replied.

"First combatants up, then," the President said, stepping off the stage to join the group below as one of the regular Deepground women stepped onto the stage.

Without a word, Sephiroth made his way onto the stage, knowing both he and Angeal were going to win. While most of the Deepground members apparently used guns primarily, there were some—like these three—who also used close combat weapons with great skill, and he wondered just how skilled the regular members were. Now, he would be able to find out.

FoWD

As Rufus watched the first match intently, which was actually nothing impressive beyond the Deepground member's durability, he felt a small presence come up beside him, pulling with it another presence and followed by two more who were distinctly annoyed. A glance showed him the new little Turk—the Princess of Wutai—pulling Ed by the hand and with Kariya and Doriss following. The two senior Turks were the ones who were so annoyed he could feel it without looking. Behind them came two more girls, both just looking puzzled and apprehensive, both in the Academy uniform, but as they'd only just arrived, he hadn't sensed them come up with the others.

"Isn't it strange how that woman can take a blow as hard as that and not even feel it?" Yufi asked suddenly, frowning. "Even SOLDIERs flinch or get forced back a bit by that hard of a hit."

"That would be their brand of experimental enhancements. Also, she can probably hold her ground so well because she's a metamorphose type, and their process for creating shapeshifters causes the 'weight' of the other form to carry over to their human form, even if it's not actively visible. It's like they're using a Gravity Materia on themselves, creating excess weight against attack," Ed explained.

"Can that even work when Demi spells are attack spells and would hurt the one they're used on?" Shelke asked, gaze worried as she watched the match as well.

"I said it's 'like that', but for the record, you can remove the 'damage' aspect from Materia spells if you know how," the younger blond (though Rufus wasn't really sure he should be defining Ed as 'younger' than him—that was superficial based on looks) answered her. "You do it subconsciously when you make your ice flowers."

"Oh," the girl stared, and Yufi grinned as she let out a long, impressed, "Coooool!"

In the meantime, Sephiroth shoved the woman out of the ring so hard she hit one of the support pillars in the room before dropping to the ground. Rufus blinked as he noted the crack in the pillar where she'd hit, making it highly likely she did indeed have extra weight, visible or not. How was that possible? He'd ask Aur—Ed later. In the meantime, the Deepground man and Angeal made their ways onto the stage, and their match progressed much the same way, though Angeal ended up knocking him unconscious. Azul retrieved the fallen man from the stage, then First Vale paired off against the second Deepground woman.

It was obvious early on in the match that she fought very differently from the other two, and Vale was legitimately struggling against her with her super-enhanced speed boosts. "That's odd..." Rufus murmured as he watched how she kept abruptly changing direction as she hit the First, sometimes forcing him back a step and sometimes not.

"She's got enhancements like Rosso's," Ed commented. "Rosso is better at manipulating them—I think she's the only one who can randomly switch out which of several enhancements she uses. The same specs only work for so long, and their only commonality is their movement speed. That might be paired with agility, or strength, or defense, or reflexes—Rosso has all of those options to switch out with. This one can rotate between reflexes and strength—that's how she's keeping her speed up."

"...You're saying Vale might actually lose, legitimately, to a normal member of Deepground?" Rufus asked in surprise.

"No. Her enhancements aren't _that_ good, and he's actually figured out that he can beat her just by not giving her resistance," Ed answered in a dry tone. "He's just going to make his loss look good, as he was told."

Not too long after, Vale was forced off the edge of the arena by his opponent's unrelenting attacks, as though he'd had no ability to do anything but defend because the attacks were too fast. Following them, Argento and Tseng entered the arena, but both circled one another for several minutes before attacking at about the same moment. Having never seen Tseng fight with a sword before, Rufus was surprised to note how the Wutain man was easily holding his own against Argento, and how his skills were a match for Balto, if not superior. Some of his movements were slightly off or delayed, however, showing that he hadn't used one in some time.

"I honestly had no idea Tseng had such skill with a sword, even when he's clearly a little rusty," Rufus commented, sounding impressed.

"The last time he fought with one of our practice katanas, it was when Balto was looking for a new sparring partner within the Turks," Doriss replied. "That wasn't too long after both had joined the Turks, a good two and a half years ago. I don't think they've sparred since—it was unpleasant for them both—and by extension, I don't think Tseng has bothered to use that skill since. I knew it had happened, but the only witness is Sirra."

"The same is true of every weapon, though," Edward put in. "Even Yufi uses only a few types, which she knows well, but Tseng—he went the whole nine yards. Extravagantly. Give him a few weeks of practice with the weapons he's been ignoring since becoming a Turk and he'll qualify as an expert with all of them."

"How does a person become an expert with so many types of weapons?" Rufus asked in surprise.

"By realizing he doesn't have to limit himself to one type in order to perfect it, he just has to _want_ to perfect them all," the long haired blond replied dryly. "It helps that he has a literal natural affinity to weapons, though I'm not sure where in his background that comes from. It's not something passed down in his family through teaching, it's all just—him. That he has good reason to want to be so skilled and adaptable in combat gave him the push to capitalize on it."

It didn't take long of watching the match for Rufus to realize Tseng's 'rusty' skills were improving to 'current' standards very rapidly, but another look at the match also made him wonder if he was reading it right. Somehow, it was almost like they were talking with one another, like they were literally planning something in the middle of the match, even though they weren't talking—or even shouting wordlessly at one another. In fact, they were nearly soundless, the most noise coming from their blades clashing or the impact if one hit the ground harder than anticipated. At the same time, the battle was riveting, gripping, both fighting with an oddly similar style and flare which left everyone anticipating the other's next move. They had truly turned this tournament into a show, a spectator sport.

Yet, Rufus still couldn't shake the feeling that they were talking to one another somehow, and his thought was proven when, after a match lasting nearly an hour, Tseng won by ring-out. Argento, Rufus noted, just looked amused, making him think this had been part of the 'plan' he felt they'd made.

Azul and First March were the next up, and it was clear Azul's primary skill was heavy hitting strength. It actually took very little time for him to force March out of the ring, though part of that was due to the First not trying to remain in it. Rosso and Cissnei were the next up, the two fifteen year old women eying one another warily for a minute before Rosso smirked and attacked. Sure enough, like Vale's opponent, she was keeping her speed up, but Cissnei was largely not giving her resistance to use against her, making Rosso's directional changes much less frequent and much less impressive. It also had the side effect of repeatedly placing Rosso far outside Cissnei's range, and because she was limited to using her combat star for close range combat, she couldn't use it in ranged form to 'close' the distance. Ultimately, Rosso managed to knock Cissnei unconscious.

It was Angeal who retrieved Cissnei from the arena before Nero and Genesis stepped into the ring.

**Notes:**

(1) These two names are only important for the duration of the Tournament, so they're not a major point to recall, though there might be once or twice where people talking later on refer back to them in the Tournament.


	59. 58-Human

Human

Genesis admittedly had some misgivings about this fight, but a long look at the expression in Nero's eyes caused him to realize this boy was already broken. He either didn't have the strength to heal, or didn't want to bother, making him dangerous, heartless, uncaring. Somehow, he thought Nero would be exactly the kind of puppet Jenova would want, and he wondered if the boy had any of her cells in him. If he did, it was probably a miniscule amount, otherwise she'd have already taken control of him, but that then begged the question of why Ed was so sure he would lose control. And the arrays and how he'd have to use them to counter Nero's void power if he went out of control left a bad taste in his mouth.

As the two began fighting, blade against 'wing blades' and daggers about the size of a pistol, Genesis noted how the boy was fast (not like Rosso, but fast enough), capitalizing on his ability to move. His mostly dark, silver, and black clothing made him easy to see and follow against the pale color of the arena, but his speed made it harder to react and block every attack. Genesis, being the more slender agility fighter as well, was able to keep up with him, but he began to grasp why someone like Angeal, or even Sephiroth, would lose to this boy. It was truly more about how their skills matched up rather than their overall ability.

However, after about ten minutes of being beaten back, the boy—who had obviously expected a quick win—yelled in sudden fury and sent a ball of pitch black energy at him. Genesis had only moments to cast Reflect on himself before it hit him, and as the Reflect bubble visibly shuddered under the pressure of a spell which wasn't turning back on his caster, he swallowed hard. Now he knew what Ed had meant about the void power Nero used, and why he would need an array to obliterate that void power. It was terrifying to realize he was trapped in a floating bubble which would eventually collapse from the strain of the void, leaving him to be destroyed.

His only chance was indeed the arrays Ed had talked with him about and shown him in hazy form around his arm while they'd been in the room next door. But, did he have enough time to make it work in his current circumstances?

Well, do or die...

Drawing in a deep breath and closing his eyes, Genesis tuned out the Reflect bubble and the darkness beyond it to focus on remembering both the original array, and on changes he wanted to make to the original. Those were his own changes, and they took into account some of the functions of the spell Purify, one of the arrays Scarlet had drawn. As he focused on what he was trying to do, he suddenly felt one of his summons—his Alexander—take interest in it and help guide him, not by performing the casting completely free-hand, but by channeling it through the Alexander Materia at his wrist.

Genesis seized on the support, never before having felt so thankful for any of his Summons as he did right then. It _would_ work, because now he wasn't the only one trying to use it.

FoWD

Everyone gaped in shock as a black bubble surrounded Genesis, clearly being directed by Nero, but Ed just gazed at the bubble tersely. Apparently, everyone had been expecting the bubble to dissipate quickly, but it didn't, and Nero audibly growled in frustration as he yelled, "Just die already!"

One of the Restrictors started forward, heading for Nero, but before he reached the boy, the black bubble which had been hanging in the middle of the arena suddenly blazed with light and dissipated rapidly, releasing that light to flash brilliantly across the arena. The sudden release of the light blinded everyone for a moment, but those at the right angle—like Rufus and Ed, who had covered their eyes as the light first shone through the black bubble—were able to see the light spreading in Nero's direction until it struck him, causing him to cry out in pain.

Both blonds also saw the Restrictor say something to Nero which caused his eyes to roll back into his head as he collapsed in a dead faint.

A few moments later, the light dissipated and left Genesis to drop to the crater in the arena floor where the bubble had stopped, his black and white streaked wing showing as light retreated from it to flow down his arm to the bracer at his wrist. He was obviously exhausted and almost sagged forward to the arena floor, but after a stumble, managed to keep himself upright, though crouched and hunched. After several moments, Genesis forced himself to his feet, apparently realized his wing was showing and retracted it, then looked at Nero.

It took a few more moments for him to be announced the winner, then the Restrictor carried Nero off the stage and Genesis dragged his feet back to his team, where Angeal quickly caught and braced him. As Genesis took an Elixir to recover, Ed turned his gaze back to the stage, where Weiss had stepped onto it and was just waiting for Percia to join him. She did a few moments later, and the fight start was called.

"They seriously sent a Turk to fight me?" Weiss asked her in amusement.

"I learned to fight by sparring with Sephiroth, so I'm one of the best in the Turks in close combat fighting," she replied bluntly.

"Ah," the boy nodded. "Then you're strong enough that I won't have to pull my punches. I'll be glad of the challenge. And sorry about my younger brother—he's not completely sane."

Her brow rose and she asked, "Apology accepted, but are _any_ of you actually sane?"

Weiss chuckled in amusement and replied, "I don't know that we're the best ones to judge sanity, but Nero is the extreme, so even _we_ can tell he's not right in the head."

Percia's brow rose higher, but she asked instead, "Shall we spar, then?"

"Yes, let's," the white haired fourteen-year-old agreed genially.

As they launched themselves forward and into combat, Rufus commented, "Weiss is being rather talkative, isn't he?"

"He is," Ed agreed. "Seeing him like that when he still serves Deepground is unusual—that openness is usually reserved for when he's free of them."

"Is that a good sign or a bad one?" Kariya asked from behind the blonds, and Ed paused to assess the question and the situation for a moment.

In theory, it could mean Weiss was so invested in Deepground that he'd never break away from them, and quite literally treated them as his family and Reactor 0 as his home. However, that would also have been true of every Weiss, because he had been born and raised there, it was literally all he knew. The only way Weiss could feel so strongly about Deepground was if this version of them wasn't abusive, which he sincerely doubted. That left Weiss being in a shockingly good headspace in this dimension, which normally also meant he and Argento were close friends in this one, a rare state of affairs. Depending on their depth of bond, there was also the chance Rosso and others—more than the normal handful of members—could be saved, too.

"I think it's good," he told Kariya. "It usually means more of them can be saved."

"We'll hope for that, then," Rufus agreed.

"But prepare for the worst all the same," Doriss threw in pragmatically.

"Obviously," Rufus agreed, and Ed noticed he was watching Percia fight with an impressed expression on his face.

It was true in every dimension that Percia's combat skills were incredible if she was given the opportunity to learn, but this was the first time they were seeing her as an ally, not an enemy, from the start. Rather than having grudging respect for what she could do, they instead had honest admiration for and camaraderie with her. Rufus, who didn't respect anyone normally until he was given a dose of reality, and who wasn't close with her in this dimension to begin with, was starting to see her actual strength. Ed hoped it would lead the two of them to being friends, because they could both use the support.

Either way, Weiss and Percia sparred for a good fifteen minutes before she was thrown out of the ring, which also ended the first round of the tournament. There was a short break—about five minutes—before Sephiroth and the remaining unnamed Deepground woman stepped into the ring. Like her previous opponent, the General was quick to work out how to beat her, and it was over when he deliberately lowered his blade while she was in forward motion. She didn't meet resistance, so couldn't stop herself and ended up outside the ring because of how close to the edge he'd let her push him. Angeal and Azul were next, and after a lot of exchanges of heavy blows, Angeal used a Demi Blade and knocked his opponent out with it.

"That must have been a recent switch after March's fight with Azul," Ed mused as he noted how the Demi Blade effect was on the wrong sword.

"I beg your pardon?" Rufus asked in surprise as Rosso and Tseng entered the arena—and the red haired fifteen-year-old launched herself at the Wutain almost immediately.

"Any other time Angeal used Demi Blade, it was on his buster sword, not the standard-issue SOLDIER blade," Ed explained. "That was dependent on Genesis' sanity or lack thereof—the longer he stayed sane, the more likely he was to get Angeal to use a Gravity Materia. If Angeal had already been doing so, it wouldn't be on his SOLDIER sword. This was how he decided to deal with the difficulty Azul presents in combat, not something he was already working with."

"Noted," Rufus agreed, seeing the two now in the arena repeatedly shoving one another back nearly to the edge of the arena. He suddenly realized why it was best for Tseng to move forward due to his likelihood of survival—nearly anyone else would have been skewered by Rosso.

Suddenly, when Rosso had shoved Tseng back, she ducked and swung her leg out to trip him, and while he nearly dodged it, her speed boost activated mid-sweep caused his reaction time to be just a little too slow. He tripped and fell outside the ring, leading to Rosso's win. Weiss and Genesis were the next ones up, and Genesis was still looking a little tired, even with the support of an Elixir.

"Are you sure you're fit to fight right now?" Weiss asked a little apprehensively.

"I can't cast worth shit right now," Genesis smirked in sleepy amusement. "But I can still fight. Besides, after seeing you fight Percia, I don't have high hopes of winning this without magic."

"What does my fight with Percia have to do with this?" the white haired young man asked in confusion.

"I can't defeat Sephiroth. She was trained by Sephiroth, and can evenly match him, even without enhancements. If you beat her, that makes you stronger than two people I already can't beat, so yeah...My chances are pretty low here with the restrictions, since even if I was at full power, I couldn't just throw around magic the way I usually do," Genesis explained candidly, making Weiss chuckle.

"You'll give it your best, though?" the younger of the two asked.

With a small smile, Genesis agreed, "I plan to."

As they jumped forward to fight, Weiss' two blades against Genesis' one, Rufus commented, "And there's Weiss being talkative again." The comment made Ed snort, though it was true. This Weiss was like an eager child trying to befriend the world. Maybe that was part of the training he had been given to interact with people, since it would make him more personable, but he didn't think it would be so easy.

The match between Genesis and Weiss was longer than expected, about half an hour, but the rapid blade strikes kept everyone's attention, and it was clear Genesis was doing a good job of holding his own. It was also clear after about fifteen minutes that he was starting to gradually lose ground, whether from weakening or being pushed back. Everyone there also knew Genesis was exhausted and blamed that—rightfully—for how he finally just collapsed at Weiss' feet, much to the white haired teen's surprise. Regardless, Weiss was declared the winner, and the President called a halt for everyone to eat.

Half an hour later, the tournament proceeded with round three, the semi-finals, in which there were only going to be two matches—Sephiroth and Rosso, and Angeal and Weiss. As Sephiroth and Rosso stepped into the arena, everyone turned to watch them, and their match was much like Rosso's two previous ones. The difference was that she kept moving around him rather than just trying to push him back, making it a lot harder for him to force her into a ring-out the easy way. Using her speed against her was still an option, but Ed wasn't sure this Sephiroth knew the other way of beating her.

As it turned out, he _did_ know it. When Sephiroth got annoyed with her taking up almost an hour of his time in this way, he shifted as she charged at him, and rather than either giving her resistance or letting her fly past him, he seized her wrist, spun as he pulled her up into the air, and slammed her down on the arena floor on the opposite side of his body. Before she could move, he had his blade against her neck, and with his other hand still tightly holding her wrist, she was trapped. Hers was the first actual surrender in the tournament, and it was clear she was pissed about it.

Weiss and Angeal took their places in the arena, Weiss made small talk for a few moments, and the match went for about half an hour while Weiss tried to figure out how to push back or knock down the other man. It was as though he hadn't been expecting Angeal to be a solid wall which was pretty much unmovable, but that was exactly how the older man had braced himself. Ed found it amusing how it took the white haired young man so long to realize he needed to fight Angeal the same way he fought Azul, but once he did, Angeal fell hard and fast. It was over in the blink of an eye, and Angeal was unconscious. The two Firsts, Vale and March, were the ones to take him out of the arena.

Finally, it was time for Sephiroth and Weiss to fight.

"I'm actually a little surprised you made it this far," Weiss commented to him, then smiled and added, "But I'm glad you did."

"Really?" Sephiroth asked in mild surprise.

"I need more decent sparring partners. If it's true you're as good as Percia, you'll be one, win or lose," Weiss replied, looking pleased.

It was obvious by his expression that Sephiroth was bemused by the comment, so just replied, "Well, we'll be finding out shortly."

"We will," the younger of the two agreed.

Their match began like any other, with a rapid exchange of strikes, their blades pretty much a blur of movement. It didn't take them long to start moving around the arena, trying to get another angle or find a blind spot, much the way Weiss' matches with Percia and Genesis had been. Also like their matches, there came a point in the half-hour bout which marked a definitive edge for Weiss as he gradually forced his opponent to a loss. Much like in the match with Percia, Sephiroth's eventual loss came from being thrown from the arena, and Weiss was the final victor.

The crowd was split between cheering and booing, and it took awhile for everything to calm down enough for the President to say, "Now that we've established Deepground as part of Shinra, be aware that you'll be seeing them around, using our facilities. Largely, it shouldn't affect SOLDIER and the Turks when they use the ones here in the main building, as they have their own facilities elsewhere, but be respectful of them when you _do_ see them around. Now that we're done here, it's otherwise business as usual, beginning tomorrow morning. For today, head home and rest up." He looked very self-satisfied as everyone began heading out.

"So...Deepground will be wandering around openly now?" Doriss asked in distaste.

"Just wait for him to enforce martial law," Ed sighed tiredly, shaking his head.

"And just when you were about to start going out and exploring, too...Does that mean you won't now?" Elicia asked from his shoulder, rubbing her head against his cheek, then peering worriedly up at him.

Ed sighed at the question, not seeing how Kariya and Doriss traded worried expressions. "I don't know. I probably still will—I'm tired of being cooped up—but cautiously, and probably with company at first."

"That's better than nothing," Elicia said happily, ears waving as she started purring. "And you know I'll go with you no matter what! Otherwise, what are best friends for?"

"Keeping foolish idiots out of trouble," he replied to her promptly, and she giggled.

"That too!" she agreed.

"Looks like it's cleared out enough for us to head out now," Rufus commented, raising a brow at Kariya and Doriss, who were grinning in amusement. "Why are the two of you suddenly so cheerful?"

"It's not sudden," Doriss replied dryly. "Ed and Elicia share this sort of banter—_a lot_. It's always funny to listen to, and it's been helping him recover by leaps and bounds. Reeve and Doctor Crescent just hit gold in the trauma recovery category."

"I can agree with that," Kariya agreed. "And we should head out."

"Um..." a voice began from almost right beside Rufus, making him turn to look—and stare in shock—at Weiss, and at Rosso, a few steps behind him. The others followed his gaze, and Weiss' expression turned faintly amused. "Sorry to bother you, but now that we have some freedom, could I ask one of you to show us around the city? We've been able to do a little exploring before—like when we met at the restaurant—but not...informally, I guess? Where we could see more than the Restrictors wanted us to see. And Rosso said it just started raining, so she wants to see what it feels like."

The others traded surprised looks, then Doriss took out her PHS to check for a weather update, then said, "I guess if no one else is able, I have some time to go with you, since my work shift this evening just got canceled by the President."

"What's rain?" Elicia asked curiously. Yufi and Shelke started giggling at the question.

"Shelke, is Elicia waterproof?" Ed asked with a faint sigh.

"Yes," she agreed, still giggling faintly. "But we forgot to program her with weather data. Sorry."

"I don't think knowing what rain is and actually experiencing it personally are comparable, Shelke..." the long haired blond told her in a dry tone, making her rub the back of her head in faint embarrassment as she blushed faintly. "So she'd still have asked about it, just not necessarily the same way as she did just now."

"So, do we get to go out, too, if all of you go?" she asked, switching topics quickly—and making her father sigh in the process.

"And what about Genesis?" he asked her.

She held up her PHS and said, "He texted me to not worry about him, because he's just tired right now. He even said it's better if I'm not there, because he'd be really boring company just sleeping. And anyway, I don't think Yufi could stay quiet for that long."

"Nope, not a chance!" Yufi agreed shamelessly. "Sleeping people are boring!"

"I supposed this is turning into a regular party, then," Rufus said in wry amusement, and Weiss and Rosso traded surprised looks.

"So wait—are _all_ of you coming with us?" Weiss asked in surprise. "Even after what happened that day?"

"That's what we've been discussing," Kariya agreed. "And as long as you're not planning on hijacking Shelke or Ed, we're good. We all know what orders are, kiddo. So far, that means Doriss, Ed, Elicia, Shelke, Yufi, and apparently Rufus. Because Shelke is going and she's my daughter, I have to go by default." He turned to look at Shalua and asked, "What about you, Shalua? You could stay around here or join us, whichever you like."

"I'll go. Shelke and Yufi get into _way_ too much trouble without me around," Shalua replied dismissively. The words set both girls off on another giggling fit.

"So, now that we've decided that, where are some places you wanted to see but haven't yet been able to?" Rufus asked the two Tsviets, facing them and noting how both still looked actively surprised.

They traded looks, then Rosso asked hopefully, "LOVELESS Avenue...the Theater...Maybe a play if they have one right now?"

"I think that can be arranged," Rufus smiled. "Shall we, then?"

The group headed out, the Restrictors and the President watching them go with puzzled expressions.

FoWD

As the group with Weiss and Rosso left the now largely empty room, Lady Shinra and Verdot looked out the control room window, which was at the top right side of the room, on the same wall as the door. It was where a couple of the company employees had been keeping track of the tournament matches and posting them on the electronic board in the room. She had asked Verdot to clear it for her before going into it to watch her husband and the Restrictors, and Carbuncle was now sitting on the rim of the one-way window while she looked into the room. She sighed as she noted their puzzled expressions at the group which left with the two young Tsviets.

"Verdot, that worries me," she sighed.

"I don't think you need to worry yet," he answered. "Not about the ones who just left, anyway."

"Why do you think that?" the woman blinked, keeping her eyes on the remaining people in the room.

"He needs a reason to enforce martial law, something the citizens, or at least his employees, won't challenge him on," Verdot answered. "That's not to say he wouldn't scrap public opinion if he truly felt threatened, but right now, he wants public opinion to be on his side, hence a reason to enforce martial law. This isn't the first time he's deliberately tried to create the circumstances which would allow him to do something to enforce his power in some way. Because there's 'bad blood' between those two Tsviets and Edward's group, he assumed they would react poorly to Weiss and Rosso approaching them for anything. That in turn would give him an excuse to enforce martial law, as they then wouldn't have been abiding his orders to treat them with respect. Instead, they more than behaved cordially with them."

Lady Shinra thought about that for a minute, then smiled faintly and said, "In other words, they did the unexpected and simply accepted the new state of affairs, something my husband didn't calculate for but also can't complain about. I've never been so grateful for the perceptiveness of the Turks before, all of them."

"Nor have I," Verdot agreed. "But the next play is ours now, and there are still things we need to do before we have a hope of stopping him. Do you have any idea where to start?"

"I've been thinking a great deal about something Edward said...That very frequently, the cause of the world's destruction has been Marius wiring it with too many high-powered explosives for it to sustain itself when they all went off near-simultaneously. I truly feel there's a good chance he's already done it, so we need to find and dismantle those explosives. Can I count on your support, or should I assign it to the Guards?"

For a long moment, Verdot was quiet, but then he said, "I'll send a couple of mine to look into that while doing other tasks in various areas. Is there anywhere I should prioritize?"

The woman sighed faintly and gave a small smile. "I'd like to say 'here', but this is the place where he's most likely to notice something wrong in his system. Let's start with the other continents, any order you like, and work towards Midgar from there."

"I'll take care of it, then." He then paused and added softly, "Thank you for trusting me with something so important after everything I've done."

"I was never your enemy, Verdot, and you were never mine," she answered, turning to face him as her husband and the Restrictors left the room below. "And knowing what really happened, it makes a difference, to us both. It's for exactly that reason that I know I can trust you."

Verdot was silent for a moment again, then gave a small nod and turned to go. "I'll let you know when it's safe to leave this room," he said as he used the stairs to leave. The elevator was shut down from the control room side; only Lady Shinra could unlock it when she was ready to go as well.

"Thank you, Verdot," she agreed just before he disappeared from view.


	60. 59-Compounding

**A/N:** To recap the results of the past polls:

The first poll on which direction to take my writing focus came out to two other polls:

The "Original" Ed/Omega (15 votes) and the "Dimensions" Ed/Omega (6 votes) on another world options formed the next poll, on which world/s readers would like to see Ed and the crew arrive on.

The other three options with votes—something not related to Catalyst Array (5 votes) and people from another world landing on the Catalyst Array Gaia (4 votes) or the Salvation's Hands Gaia (3 votes)—formed the third poll.

The second poll on which world Ed and the crew could land on resulted in these top options (of 19 voters, including an old review, shown by the + 1's):

1) "Dimensions" Omega to "Earth" (FMA:B/manga): 12 votes (Is being written, and officially named FoWD - Homecoming (or HC).)

**-.-.-There will _definitely_ be a break between the end of FoWD and the first posting of HC**.

2) "Original" Omega to Earth (Harry Potter): 9 votes (8 + 1)

3) "Dimensions" Omega to Azeroth (World of Warcraft): 6 votes (5 + 1) (not high in the running, but maybe possible)

4) "Original" Omega to Remnant (RWBY): 5 votes (not high in the running, but maybe possible)

5) "Original" Omega to Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings): 5 votes (4 + 1) (not high in the running, but maybe possible)

6) "Original" Omega to Ivalice (FFXII): 4 votes (not high in the running, but maybe possible)

Anything else had 3 or fewer votes, so isn't included. While I won't completely discount the possibility of them being written, it's highly unlikely.

Now, **on with the story**!

Compounding

Zack had just gotten back to Headquarters via helicopter from Junon, only to see it looking oddly empty and shut down suspiciously early. His first stop was to drop off the three packages and his report with Lazard, so made his way down to the man's office, where a look through the open door wasn't encouraging. It wasn't because the office was empty, but because the man looked both exhausted and pained as he sat in his desk chair limply, eyes closed.

"Um...Are you okay, Sir?" he asked the man worriedly.

Lazard's eyes opened and ordinary blue eyes met Mako-blue blankly for a moment before the man blinked and asked, "You just returned from the other continent, Fair?"

"Yeah," he agreed, dropping the three sealed sacks at his feet. "Where do you want these delivered to? And what's wrong?"

With a faintly amused smile, the SOLDIER Director pulled his chair up to his desk and began doing something which apparently included moving something onto an external disc. As he worked, he said, "It would be much easier to show you rather than trying to explain. Since the whole farce of a tournament was publicly aired, a copy you can watch at your leisure is easy enough to give you—though, I will warn you to set aside a good six hours or so to watch the recording. I'll have those packages sent to the Science Department—you can just leave them there. But Zack, how did you target two more of them?"

"It's all in my report, but it was mostly chance and eyewitness accounts of strange monster activity," Zack replied evenly. "That's also why I felt it was best if I asked for more time."

"And no doubt, extra time with your family was a beneficial side-effect," Lazard agreed in mild amusement, and Zack chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, there's that, too. But with the locations of these three, plus the one Commander Rhapsodos found, is it enough to start forming a pattern?" the Second asked.

"To 'start' one, certainly," the older blond snorted. "The bigger question is actually how much of a reliable direction those will give us. For now, everyone has the night off on the President's orders, so feel free to go do whatever you like until morning. Here's the recording." As he said the last, he took the disc, placed it in a protective case, and offered it to Zack. "Make sure you find a safe place for it so we have one permanent record no one can touch once you've watched it. Your report?"

Zack pulled the folded papers out from one of his uniform pouches and offered them to Lazard as he took the offered disc. Once the older man had the papers and the younger had the disc, Zack quickly moved the disc to the same pouch he'd taken the papers from. "Do I need to report in tomorrow morning, or just scan the mission boards unless I get a specific mission request from you?" he asked as he returned to the door, nudging the bags out of the way of it a bit.

"Do as usual," Lazard replied as he began both photocopying and scanning the papers the black haired man had given him.

"Later, then," the Second grinned, then left the room and headed to the floor where his room was. However, as he stepped onto the elevator, he saw Angeal in it, a grocery bag over one arm, and made an instant decision.

"Sir, could I speak with you privately for a bit?" he asked the older man.

Angeal blinked at him in mild surprise, then asked, "What about?"

"Something that came up while I was away on my most recent mission," Zack replied, knowing the man would refuse if it was about the mission itself. And technically, he was telling the truth, regardless, because what he wanted to discuss wasn't in his mission report.

"If you don't mind it being in Genesis' apartment—and him knowing it by extension—we can have a chat about it now," Angeal offered. "Otherwise, I'll check my schedule in the morning and call you to let you know when you can drop by."

"Sure, now's good, I don't mind," Zack agreed. It was sensitive, but not so sensitive no one else could hear it, especially since he'd already worked out what he _had_ to edit out, anyway.

The man nodded, and a few moments later, they got off on the floor above Zack's, where both Commanders had their rooms. When they turned the corner down the hall, they could see Sephiroth standing at a door a ways down, hand raised as though he was about to knock, but had hesitated. Zack saw Angeal frown faintly and pick up his pace, and as they were approaching, the General turned to face them.

"What's the matter, Sephiroth?" Angeal asked when they were in easy speaking distance.

"...How is he doing?" the silver haired man asked almost hesitantly.

"No offense, but—why do you care? I know your opinion of him, and it's not a nice one," Angeal replied, and Zack stared back and forth between the two, wondering what was going on. Whose door had they stopped in front of?

Sephiroth sighed faintly and turned back to look at the door as he said, "I've been wrong about a lot of things in regards to him. That so-called tournament pushed him to his limit, and I'm surprised he stayed aware long enough to answer the text he got or make his way back here. I was worried about knocking and waking him needlessly if he was sleeping, so I didn't right away. So, how is he?"

"I don't know if he's sleeping, but he's definitely tired," Angeal replied. "Nero actually—freaked him out pretty badly, so if he's managed any real sleep, it was probably not sound. I'm staying over tonight to make sure he'll at least get fed. For now, that's all I know."

The younger man nodded, glanced over at Zack, then said, "Since it seems you have other company to deal with as well, I'll head back to my own apartment for the evening and see how he's doing tomorrow." Sephiroth gave a wave and headed down the hall to another door not too far away.

"Um...?" Zack began, feeling like he wanted to ask a hundred questions, but not sure how well they'd be received.

"We were talking about Genesis," Angeal said in faint amusement. "This is his apartment, and where we're going to be having our discussion. Let's get inside so I can put the food away until I need to prepare it."

It half surprised Zack that apparently Angeal's company card opened Genesis' door, but the other half of him somehow thought it was right—it was common knowledge the Commanders were old friends. They stepped inside and Angeal immediately headed for the fridge while Zack took a quick look around, immediately cringing at all the LOVELESS posters plastered across the red haired man's walls. It was more like a collage of black, white, and red, only sometimes broken up by the pale tan of the walls, and he wondered how the man stayed sane. Then he realized a lot of the posters were actually not attached properly to the walls—many hung by just a single piece of tape.

Genesis himself lay on one couch, and Zack was again shocked, this time by how every piece of furniture in the room was a different color, and so was every rug. He was left feeling a sensation he referred to as 'What the Hellfire?' A red and gold blanket was wrapped around the man on the couch as he laid on his side facing the room, his eyes closed and brow creased. It looked like he had on a black shirt, but his jacket and most of his black SOLDIER uniform were thrown over one of the armchairs. The door was suddenly thrown open so hard it hit the wall, causing all three men to jump, and Scarlet ran in—and stopped to stare at the room.

"Genesis..." she began warningly.

The red haired man's tired gaze focused on her in vague amusement as he commented, "I could have done without being scared half to death, my Lady Red." The address—and even the executive's presence there—made Zack gape in shock.

"Cut the crap! _What in Hellfire_ were you _thinking_, doing _that_?" she glared, motioning around at the room. Zack was at a loss as to what she meant.

"...Um...Familiarity?" he asked, and Zack heard Angeal sigh, even as Scarlet clenched her fists.

"Familiarity," she repeated in a cold tone. "You're three quarters dead, and you thought it would be a good idea to _waste_ energy you _don't have_ on something both inane and pointless?"

"...Yes?" Genesis replied, though it sounded more like a question. Zack felt a hand on his elbow, making him glance over at Angeal as the older man dragged him away from the (still open) door and into the kitchen, pushing him down into one of the chairs at the purple wood table. Seriously, _purple_ wood existed?

A moment later, the woman drew his attention back to her as she growled, "Fine, I warned you what would happen if you _ever_ tried a stunt like this again." In the next moment, she was tearing down the half-hung posters, ripping them up, crumpling them into balls, and throwing them out into the hall. Genesis only had the strength to sigh in defeat and roll over to face away from the destruction of his posters.

"Um...Is this normal?" Zack asked as Angeal sat across from him at the table. Every chair around it was a different color. Why was everything so mis-matched here?

"Normal enough," the other SOLDIER replied in wry amusement.

"...Should we be letting her do that?"

"Would you really like to try to stop her?"

"...Okay, good point. What do we do in the meantime?"

"Wait for her to run out of steam. We'll figure it out then."

Zack just shook his head in amazement for a minute as he watched her tear apart over half of what was on the walls. While she was working, he suddenly faced Angeal and asked, "So why is she _even here_, and why does she care?"

"She and Genesis have been friends almost as long as we've been here. She adds an element of logic to his life I can't give him, and he makes her more human, so it's beneficial to them both, but more than that...As they got to know one another, they truly bonded. I know most siblings don't get along well, even if they care about each other, but those two are like the siblings who were close, who cared _and_ got along well. The longer they're together, the deeper it grows. If anything, I'm surprised it took her this long to get here, since his state was public knowledge," Angeal explained.

"That's the tournament I keep hearing about?" Zack asked, and the older man nodded. "Lazard gave me a disc recording to watch. I guess I shouldn't put it off too long, even though I'm not usually into tournaments."

"This one is a must, though," Angeal sighed. "It changed the whole company dynamic."

"...Oh." Zack had truly not realized it was so important, despite the Director having given him a copy and effectively ordering him to watch it, then hide the copy.

With a final-sounding huff, Scarlet finished tossing the destroyed posters out into the hall, closed the door, and dusted off her hands. She then marched back over to Genesis and stood staring down at him with her hands on her hips for a minute. Finally, she sighed and sat on the coffee table nearest Genesis, reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder as she asked, "Look at me, Magic Poet?"

After a pause, he rolled over to face her, so her hand moved to his arm, the one now nearest her. "What?" the red haired man asked, clearly upset.

"That was hurting you, and you _know_ it. What made you think you should hurt yourself like that?" she asked him, gaze and tone shockingly soft.

For a long minute, Genesis was quiet, but then he sighed, and explained, "I'm going to have to kill him, Scarlet."

"Why?" she asked with a puzzled frown. "Whatever you did obviously knocked him out, so why can't you just keep—"

"That wasn't me," he cut her off. She stared, eyes wide, and he went on in a pained tone, "They have mind control chips, and the Restrictor nearest him used it to forcibly knock him out before what I did would have killed him. I tried to—just make it cleanse him—but he's too—too—Hellfire, I don't have the words for it! He's just too far gone to be able to be cleansed and given another chance! He's still a child and I'm going to have to kill him the next time, when there's no Restrictor to bring him back under control, or when the Restrictors don't bother!"

"...Oh, Genesis..." Scarlet sighed, leaning forward to wrap her arms around him in a hug. Even though it was silent tears the man wept on her shoulder, Zack somehow could just tell he was indeed crying.

But the words shocked him like nothing else, so he turned to look at Angeal, who looked pained and terse. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, and since the other man was apparently equally uncommunicative just then, they just sat in silence and waited for the other two to calm down. Though, he actually wasn't able to sit still for so long and began quietly doing squats beside the table to use up energy while waiting. Angeal stared at him for a minute when he started, then just shook his head as though trying to clear it and returned his gaze to the two in the living room.

After a bit, Genesis rolled onto his back with Scarlet sprawled on him, and they both apparently fell asleep like that. Several silent minutes later, Angeal sighed tiredly and said, "I daresay they—or Scarlet at least—will wake pretty quickly, so we should talk now. What did you need to ask me about?"

It took Zack a moment to register the question and back-track in his memory to recall what he'd wanted to talk about. Returning to his seat at the table, he said, "Right...On my mission, I was back in the same area as the time I was sent after the pack of Cerberuses. I know the Cosmo Canyon and Gongaga area well—I grew up in Gongaga—but I saw a strange haze in the air. I guess it wasn't really a 'haze', but sort of like a dome or film? It's hard to describe. I was asking someone I know out there if she knew what was causing it, and she said something about anchors. She also told me a few of the townspeople had just randomly died since it came up. There was no disease or illness, no attack or injury, not even careless drug abuse or drinking—they just didn't wake up one morning."

He paused to draw in a breath as Angeal's eyes widened in shock. "I'm not sure there's a link, but when I took that thing out of the ground, the one like what the Commander found in the mountains south of here, the haze weakened to be almost non-existent. I think there's a good chance there's something to it, because it also happened in the other two places where I took them out, where similar effects had been happening. The sky around Midgar is so polluted we can't see the haze from below, but I could see it faintly from above because I knew what to look for, but in theory, it should be thicker here with only one of the nearby stones removed, if those are the cause."

"You should have reported all of this to Lazard," Angeal said bluntly.

Zack sighed and answered, "Not when I have an inside source who told me the only thing saving us is primarily the Mako in our bodies, and secondarily the Jenova cells we're infused with. And the fact that the being causing the haze is currently targeting the other continent, which is part of the reason it's not having much effect here."

"...What?" the older man frowned in confusion.

"We don't have time to dally or guess, but if I just blurt out what I know—which is three quarters classified information only the top people in the Company have clearance to know—I'd be endangering both myself and my source," the Second clarified. "I know it's important, more than anyone. But going at it with information I can safely share isn't good enough, and telling more risks having the opposite reaction. Especially when the one doing it turns out to be Jenova, a being which isn't even 'alive' to the Science Department. And then there's the issue of what to do with the stones we find, because bringing them all here just guarantees she can kill us fast unless we have a way to destroy them. I'd need the Science Department's help to find a way to do that, which again means revealing way more than is safe to reveal."

"You don't need the Science Department to destroy them," Genesis sighed, making both start and turn to look at him and Scarlet. The woman had sat up on the edge of the couch, giving Zack a shrewd look he didn't like, but the red haired man was still laying down after having rolled back onto his side. "Ed can destroy them, and so can I. If they're as dangerous as you're indicating, I'll gladly go around and track them down to eliminate them. Once I've recovered, of course."

"How is it that Jenova is somehow orchestrating this when she's supposedly in stasis?" Scarlet asked curiously.

After a long moment to assess the fact that he couldn't actually hide anything from an executive who had heard the problem right from his lips, he sighed and said, "According to my source, she's only physically in a kind of stasis, but not only is that an incomplete stasis which still allows her to release bits of her genetic data into the air to influence others around her, it's also got no affect on her mind or intrinsic power and energy. Since she's the one who created the monsters we have now, she can easily control them from great distances with the awareness and abilities she has now, which is why the monsters are the ones setting the stones into place.

"Then, because that's her crystallized energy—her version of our world's Mako Crystals—she can channel her powers through them to cause things to happen. Those are largely simple things right now—a sudden death or more aggressiveness in monsters and people around the stones—but it's possible she'll learn to do more complex things, because her goal is to destroy this planet and every living thing on it. Why it's being done this way, I don't know, and neither does my source, since by Jenova's past actions here, it would be a lot more likely for her to infect people and turn them into instruments of destruction. This way is a lot more subtle, though, and could easily be missed if the Commander hadn't actually seen them burying something and thought to dig it up."

"Shiva, sounds like we're in a right mess," Scarlet sighed tiredly, giving her head a shake. "But ironically, I think Hojo might side with us in keeping this from the President, since SOLDIER just got side-lined by Deepground, and not only is he pissed by his project being canceled, but by the fact that he doesn't have clearance to access Deepground's experimental data."

"SOLDIER's being canceled?" Zack asked in alarm, noting how the other two men were as surprised and worried as he was. "Why didn't Lazard tell me that?"

"It's not 'being canceled' as in 'shut down entirely'," she replied. "Those who are already in it are staying, and they'll still take SOLDIER candidates until the currently-made infusions run out. No new infusions will be made, however, so the last round of new recruits will happen within the next year, and only because Hojo has all night to make more infusions before everything's taken away in the morning. SOLDIER will then just slowly be allowed to dwindle until nothing but Deepground exists. I don't think I've ever seen Doctor Crescent agree with him on anything before, though, let alone offer to help, and she just did both to get more infusions made. They may even get a second year's worth of new recruits out of the deal."

"So right now, nothing is really changing?" Angeal asked. Scarlet nodded, so he turned to Zack and asked, "In that case, your problem—I still think you need to let Lazard know, with or without support from the executives."

"I'd be more inclined to talk with Ed about it," Genesis put in, making the others look at him in confusion.

"Who?" the Second asked blankly.

"The Guards' new stray—or, well, not so new anymore, but still their newest one," the red haired SOLDIER replied in faint amusement. "He was going by Auryn until recently, when he decided it was okay to be known by his actual name again. He's a well-spring of knowledge, both esoteric and scientific, and he apparently knows a whole lot about what's going to happen and how to fix it. Since the stones aren't a one-off, he might know something about them, and—as much as I normally deal with Hounds, Lady Shinra is known to be a lot more discreet in getting things done. She'll have a much better chance of keeping a shard hunt under the radar than anyone else, and won't even bother to question your source if Ed correlates it. And all she has to do is mention him to her husband if he gets wind of anything, and no one would look further."

"That's true," Scarlet agreed dryly. "If _anything_ goes in a direction the President doesn't like, pinning it on Ed normally means it becomes self-explanatory and stops there. The President even had the gall to blame my having made the building rock that one day on Ed having been in my office."

"No offense, but by your own admission, it _was_. Indirectly, at least," Genesis told her in amusement, then yawned.

"But he didn't know Ed had shared with me crucial data to my project just then, and I never told him," Scarlet answered, giving her head a shake. "It only took him two days to start making that poor boy into his go-to scapegoat for _everything_, and that's _not_ okay. Nevertheless, it means the President literally won't even think of an alternate source, and by the sounds of the situation, we actually need to use that to our advantage just now."

"I'd feel bad if someone else got into trouble, though," Zack sighed, scratching the side of his head and running his fingers back through his spiky hair. His gaze focused on the ceiling as he took a few moments to think about what the two had said, but then he blinked and looked back at them. "You mean it literally won't matter."

"It won't," Scarlet agreed. "You could bluntly tell him who your _actual_ source was and he'd _still_ pin it on Ed."

"...How could _anyone_ do something like that?" the younger man stared.

"He's a willfully blind control freak," Scarlet replied with a derisive snort. "And it's common knowledge that Ed knows things no one else should know—a whole lot of them. That makes him very easy to blame, and being able to blame someone without fail—someone who probably _does_ have the crucial information regardless—makes him very happy because then he doesn't have to think about it. Mostly, it's just helping him maintain an illusion of control he doesn't have."

"In Gongaga, someone like that would be defined as psychotic," Zack stated.

"Zack, I think _everyone_ defines someone like that as psychotic," Angeal answered in amusement.

"Okay...So why does he run the world, then?"

The younger man's shrewd question made all of them stare, trade looks, then sigh. Finally, Scarlet started giggling, and Genesis said wryly, "Because 'sanity' isn't what currently runs the world, money does, and he has a lot of it. The only way that would change is if the whole world changed the system it runs by so money's no longer a factor."

"Or trade and barter. Exchange in general is a problem because it means goods have to have values, and everyone pretty much goes for the highest price they can get from someone else," Scarlet added. "So the only real option for 'sanity' to rule is if the _whole world_ stops being insane and stops focusing on placing exchange values."

"...Is that possible?" Zack asked in surprise.

"Just now, we have enough problems to deal with, but I don't see why it couldn't be possible. It's just that one person alone can't make such a system work—everyone has to participate in doing so," Angeal said. "Now, was that everything? Genesis needs to rest."

Zack paused for a moment, then asked, "If you want me to share this with Ed, where do I find him?"

"Kariya's apartment," Genesis answered with another yawn. "I'll text you the number so you don't lose it—I'm pretty sure they're not there right now."

"Sure, thanks," Zack agreed, rising. "I'll head out, then. Thanks for talking with me." They waved him off and he headed out, feeling both relieved and confused.


	61. 60-Jenova Crystals

"Jenova Crystals"

The group in town had arrived at the theater about half an hour before the late showing of LOVELESS, though Rosso had been completely soaked by the rain by then, Elicia's paws were wet, and Weiss had soaked one sleeve. Yufi and Shelke were sprinkled with little droplets of water but were largely dry, and the others had been under umbrellas so hadn't gotten wet. With a faint sigh at the states of Elicia and the Tsviets, Ed had decided to spare everyone the smell of wet fur and the discomfort of two people being soaked, using his knowledge of the arrays to heat and dry the three outside the covered doors while Rufus arranged seating and meals (small ones for all but the Tsviets, as they hadn't been allowed to eat much during the tournament) for them. Of course, that meant private balcony seating with only their party and servers allowed in, which was good for Ed's sanity, which was already strained.

Finally they had gotten to their seats, and had watched the first half of the play without incident. The others found the sheer awe Weiss, Rosso, and Elicia watched the play with to be both amusing and endearing, both intense and childlike. It also caused most of them to realize the Tsviets, and most of the people in Deepground by extension, had been so isolated from society that they'd never experienced simple things everyone took for granted. Introducing them to what they'd been missing also went to the top of nearly everyone's to-do list, because if anything would bring their sanity back, or give them any semblance of it to begin with, it would be living normally.

Now, they were at the halfway mark, when there was a scheduled half-hour break between Acts Three and Four and everyone was allowed to get up and walk around, have their meals, and so on. Ed made his way to the corner of the balcony and rested his arms on the rail while Elicia was poking around the edges of the 'room', which she hadn't done earlier due to her attention having been on the play. After a few minutes, Weiss joined him there, just standing silently beside him for a few minutes, then deciding to also lean his elbows on the rail.

"I don't get it," Weiss suddenly said quietly.

"Get what?" Ed asked warily.

"Why do we need to retrieve you at all? You don't actually have anything to offer Deepground. No offense meant, but you're—not like us," the younger of the two replied.

"I'm not a psychotic murderer, you mean?" Ed asked in dry amusement. Weiss huffed a small laugh at the words, but the older man went on, "You haven't been told anything about who or what I am, have you? All the experiments done to me, all the things I can do—you don't know any of that, do you?"

"We haven't been told, only that we were supposed to retrieve you. It's not a high priority mission—Shelke Rui is higher on our list than you, and I don't know why we need _her_, either," Weiss shrugged. "I personally think her value is higher as she is now, just for the sheer entertainment value she provides."

Never before had Ed heard Weiss describe Shelke that way, and his instinctive response was to laugh at the words, since they were truly amusing. "I have to agree. She makes a fantastic distraction without even trying," he agreed once he'd calmed down. "But you should at least know the skill she has which the President wants control of."

"SND," Weiss agreed. "But, we weren't told any of that for you. If you had something like SND, we'd have been informed of why we were sent to retrieve you. That's what typically happens when those orders come down from the President, especially since the Restrictors and scientists have your files."

Actually, that was a good point, and this was the first time no one had told the ones sent to get him why they wanted him. What was the President playing at? "I'm actually worried about the fact that you don't know anything, because you're right—they should have at least told you what I'm wanted for, otherwise you'd be walking blind into what would likely be a fight."

"You can't fight, though."

"I haven't recently. That doesn't mean I can't."

"...Why wouldn't you?"

"Too much mental trauma, which left me in a mental state where I can't actually...offer resistance to someone trying to harm me. Or kidnap me, or whatever."

Weiss was silent for a few long moments before sighing and saying, "If that's true, you would be a useless addition to Deepground, even if you theoretically had skills we could use."

"That's never stopped the President and the Restrictors before, and I know for a fact he wants to try to create others like me, something Hojo is sure is impossible—I can't be replicated, and as he put it, I also can't be added to, otherwise my genetic structure would just begin unraveling," Ed answered. "When I asked my doctor what that meant, she said it meant I'd turn into a useless pile of skin-colored goo."

"Ew," the younger of them muttered, making a disgusting face. "But if it would turn you into goo, doesn't that mean anyone else would end up in a similar state just trying to be made into what you are right now? Whatever _that_ is?"

"Pretty much," the blond agreed.

"Why do something pointless? It's a waste of time, energy, and resources which could be better used elsewhere for something actually viable," Weiss sighed, and Ed got the impression he was musing over it rather than asking a question he wanted an answer to.

"I've been finding that most people who already don't have their heads on straight, like the President, prefer to take 'something pointless' as 'something which just hasn't been tried in the right way.' How many ways has he tried to take complete control of the world, and how many times has it only been marginally successful, after all? He honestly believes he can gain actual total control of the world, even though free will makes that impossible by default, even with control chips, and as a result keeps ignoring the facts in front of him. It's still just 'not the right way', and he has to keep trying until he finds 'the right way' to gain total control. And even martial law won't give him that control—it'll actually result in him having _less_ control in the end—but he's still going to try it, just because he hasn't yet, so 'it must be the right way to get control.'"

For a long time, Weiss stared blankly at him, then asked bluntly, "Why are we supposed to be loyal to a blind madman?"

"Because he's the most wealthy man on the Planet," Ed replied sardonically. "And, sadly, he controls the world's power supply. Until people reject Mako energy, he's going to have more power than is healthy for him to have."

By activity below, on the stage, it looked like the play was going to start again momentarily, so the two returned to their seats, and it was only after the fourth Act ended that Ed realized how incredibly important Weiss' final question was. It looked like Deepground was actually collectively more sane than in any previous dimension, despite or because the President had tried far more for control rather than pumping up their power. This had never happened before, and the only real factor different enough to produce this result was Lady Shinra's presence indirectly causing some intrinsic shift in Deepground's root development.

What frightened him, however, was what that would mean for the Restrictors. This shift also meant many of their behaviors would likely be different, and this time, he wouldn't know what they're thinking. His having revealed his knowledge of Veld's name suddenly became much more daunting.

FoWD

Morning came shockingly early for nearly everyone in Shinra.

Public company announcements informed everyone that Deepground was taking applicants, though it at least admitted their requirements were harsher than SOLDIER's, and that SOLDIER itself would gradually be phased out—it would only last as long as infusions did. At this point, a candidate could usually still choose Deepground or SOLDIER, but in about a year's time, Deepground would start getting first choice and SOLDIER would get those Deepground didn't take. Since Deepground had their own doctors and facilities, other than a small 'branch' being added to the Science Department team—four of the Deepground Scientists and doctors—everyone who joined Deepground would be going to their facilities.

In those same announcements, the pending specialized cafeteria and other changes to the training floors were announced and were expected to be in full use in about two months tops. It was stipulated that the new facilities required Turk, SOLDIER, or Deepground ID to enter, which irked most of the Turks and SOLDIERs as Deepground shouldn't have been part of it. Though, it was also reiterated that Deepground was 'just an elitist branch of SOLDIER', hence why they could use it. People who didn't belong to those three groups could enter only with someone who had appropriate ID.

Kariya had let Ed borrow his PHS to read the announcements, and Ed read them thoroughly, even the inane, minor changes also being initiated at the time (like Deepground's official payroll state or upgrades to the general employee gym, which Deepground wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole). In the meantime, the man made them breakfast, and the blond had just set the PHS aside when Kariya brought the food to the table. Since he was now done with his recent chemical therapy, Tifa and Kariya had managed to strike up an agreement that he would take care of breakfast and alternating lunches while she took care of the lunches opposite Kariya's and supper. This day in particular was one of Kariya's lunch days, and Ed was thankful. He was also thankful that Yufi had decided to head for Tseng's at dawn.

Elicia didn't need to eat, so she played with the pegs from the game Kariya and Yufi had been playing before, using them to make colored patterns and pictures while Ed and Kariya ate. The two found it amusing, and often watched her play during meals, though Ed had noticed her picture types changed depending on his mood. He didn't think Kariya had noticed, but it was pretty obvious to Ed that Elicia had been programmed to pick up even minute details to determine his mood. When he was upset, depressed, or distressed, she tended towards brighter and less specific images—more like starbursts or just simple patterns, things which would cheer him up—and when he was neutral, happy, or feeling other positive emotions, she'd make actual pictures—trees, animals, devices, things on that line.

As they were finishing up, there was a knock on the door, so Kariya got up to answer it, pausing in obvious surprise before asking, "What can I help you with, Second...?"

"Fair—Zack Fair," the person outside replied. "Commander Rhapsodos said I should discuss this...issue I found out about with Ed, who apparently lives here right now?"

"What kind of issue?" Kariya asked in surprise.

"That's kinda—private," the young man outside answered.

Kariya turned to look at Ed questioningly, and after a pause, the blond asked, "How long ago did Genesis tell you to ask me?" He knew, even when speaking at his normal volume, that Zack would be able to hear him clearly.

Sure enough, the young man answered, "Yesterday, probably not long after the tournament ended, when I got back from my mission."

After a long silence, Ed sighed and nodded, but before Kariya turned back to Zack, he said, "I don't think I've ever had a situation like this where it wasn't important enough to warrant leadership presence, so Lady Shinra should probably be involved. You should call her to find out if we go there or if she comes here."

"Will you be okay to go out just now?" Elicia asked him, looking up from her picture apprehensively.

"If I don't have to be around a lot of people, I think I'll be okay," he answered her.

"I'll make the call, then," Kariya sighed faintly, heading over to the table to grab his PHS.

"Um, but I haven't even given you an idea of what it's about yet," Zack pointed out from just inside the door, where he'd moved to because Kariya had left the door open.

"You don't need to—if Ed says it's important, I have no doubt it is, and neither does anyone else around here," Kariya answered dryly, then turned to his PHS to greet Lady Shinra. He told her about Zack's arrival and his having something important to share with her and Ed, finishing up by asking, "Will it be easier if we head there or did you want to come here? Ed said he's okay if there aren't many people around." A minute later, he said, "We'll be there soon, then. Thanks." When he hung up, he looked at the others and said, "Well, let's head out, then."

Ed rose as Elicia deserted her pattern and jumped onto the blond's shoulder, and the three men made their way to the elevator and up to the sixty-ninth floor. When they stepped into Lady Shinra's office, a very pissed off Scarlet and a bemused Reeve were standing to each side of the Vice President's desk, and an exasperated Lady Shinra sat between them. Up on the back of Lady Shinra's chair, Carbuncle was sitting up, ears waving in obvious amusement.

"Really...?" the woman asked tiredly. "You two really can't just work together on this, taking the best parts of both your projects and putting them together for the best possible option?"

"Who's defining the 'best parts' when my project has no flaws?" Scarlet bit back.

"Besides hyper-sensitivity which means someone sneezing in the next room would set it off, you mean?" Lady Shinra replied dryly.

Scarlet's eyes widened, and Kariya knocked on the doorjamb. "Are we interrupting?" he asked in amusement, motioning at Ed and Zack.

"Oh, if it isn't the Lady's Stray!" Scarlet suddenly grinned, making her way quickly to Ed and giving him a quick hug, which made everyone else stare in shock as Carbuncle giggled. "You're looking better," she smiled when she drew back. "Stress and all. That's good to see."

"Uh...Thanks, I guess," Ed agreed, and she chuckled.

Her expression became shrewd as she glanced up at Zack, then she turned back to Reeve and Lady Shinra, saying, "Fine, we'll try this one more time and come back later today. Come on, Reeve." She stepped past the three at the door as Reeve threw Lady Shinra a look, got a nod back, and followed her quickly. Stepping into the room, the three made sure the door was closed before heading to her desk, where they found seats when she motioned them at them.

"So, Second Fair, you had something to share with us?" the woman asked him.

"Yeah, Commander Rhapsodos said I should share it with Ed, but without even knowing what it was, he said you should hear it, too," Zack offered. She blinked, but motioned him to go on. "I don't know if you're aware of the strange stone he and the General found, or that I was sent back to Cosmo Canyon to see if the group I saw there had been burying one as well?"

"Lazard shared the report of the first one with me and his intent to send someone for the likely second one out there. What happened?" Lady Shinra asked.

"Yeah...There's someone who knows a lot about Jenova and about things that happen in the world—healthy people dying by literally just not waking up—and she told me about what those stones were," Zack said. "And while some of what she said is not literally proven, there's a good chance she's right."

"Sounds like Aeris or Ifalna," Lady Shinra replied in vague amusement.

"Most likely," Ed agreed. "I got that, too, but I had other worries at the time. Those were oddly peaceful deaths and almost weren't felt."

Zack gaped at them for a moment before asking, "Why do you know her? Wait, is that because of Hojo's—"

"Ifalna is a good friend of mine," Lady Shinra cut him off in amusement. "Aeris is her daughter, though she and I have only met a few times."

"And Aeris is my sister in all but blood," Ed added, also amused. "Now, what stones, and what happened?"

After taking a minute to process the fact that these people were completely okay with Aeris and her oddities (and that Ed apparently had them, too), he explained about the events surrounding the odd haze and what had happened in those areas. "While I _did_ talk to locals to find out if there had been strange monster activity in the area, and there had been, I knew where to go to find the other two because Aeris pointed me in those directions. She also said the stones were Jenova's version of crystallized Mako, giving her the ability to use them to manipulate the surroundings. By extension, there's a very good chance those deaths or other unusual activities in the area were her doing directly. The big questions are finding them all and destroying them, and I can't just openly blurt out my source as a public record."

The others looked both thoughtful and horrified, but Lady Shinra turned to Ed to ask, "Well, in your vast knowledge, has something like this ever happened before?"

"No, it doesn't sound familiar," the blond sighed faintly. "Rather, the area it's being used over is unfamiliar. She's created those crystals before—I've taken to calling them 'Jenova Crystals'—but they were a couple placed in a small space to achieve something only there. She's spreading them far and wide, which also means she's found some way to create a lot of them. Since the others I encountered came from the Northern Crater where she was dug out from—Minerva's crystallized Mako transformed into Jenova Crystals—there's a good chance most of the Mako which had been encasing her qualifies as Jenova Crystals. And the scientists tore apart a large section of those Crystals while they were digging her out, so it's not like the monsters have to break them free themselves."

"So how much control does she have of them if they were made from the Planet's energy?" Lady Shinra asked with a puzzled frown. "And what's the difference between Materia and Mako Crystals—which, to me, are the same thing—that the later could be mutated in the first place? Unless she can also turn Materia into Jenova Crystals?"

"No, Materia is a different thing, even if it's made from the same substance," Ed answered wryly. "The major difference is the arrays. Materia are data storage chips with defined data in place, not formless essences with a chemical compound but no actual 'data' present. Defined data is a stabilizing factor, making it harder to change things without knowing how. Since Jenova operates on different rules from Minerva, the instructions Minerva gives to Materia are intrinsically different from what Jenova would give, so she can't modify that. Formless energy, in energy or liquid form, however, is a different matter.

"Think of Materia as deliberately-formed data chips. Mako crystals, on the other hand, are more like the forming of a stalactite or stalagmite, where calcium carbonate and dripping water pulled them into a shape and they solidified that way. They formed randomly from what was there, not by being instructed to form in a specific way. They have no data, so the existing formations are like a blank canvas waiting to be drawn on, and Jenova just _seeps_ the paint which _loves_ to draw on any blank canvas she can find, and even on already-existing images if she thinks she can. Over time, with her seeping energy directly into that formless energy, she effectively mutated it into hers, and Minerva no longer has any say in what they do."

"Then how do we find and stop them?" Kariya asked apprehensively. Ed had been right to say this was big enough for Lady Shinra to know.

"Destroying them is actually easy with the right arrays," the blond answered.

"Yeah, Commander Rhapsodos said both you and he could easily destroy them," Zack agreed.

"Any Mage can do it if they know how," Ed clarified. "It's literally just a matter of getting the right knowledge to the right people, because the arrays for the Purify spell on the Cleanse Materia will destroy them, it just has to be held for around thirty seconds." He gave his head a shake and said, "There may be a pattern—I know a few types Jenova is likely to use, but that's still a shot in the dark. Minerva may not be able to _influence_ them, but she may be able to _locate_ them."

"Which would mean you could chart them on a map for us?" Lady Shinra asked hopefully.

"No, sorry, it's not that easy," Ed replied, making a face. "This is in the same category as when I tried to find Kariya when Fuhito snatched him. It's variable and directional—it depends on someone like Ifalna, Aeris, Nina, or me being able to guide people in the right direction to find them. But I can ask her if she's capable of tracking them, since it's still more to go on than random checking?"

"You don't need to," Zack put in, making the others look at him. "It's directional like Ed said, and yes, Aeris can track them if she asks Minerva for help to find them. That's how I found the two further from Cosmo Canyon, after all. But what does that mean for finding them? And what about the ones already here? The Commander thought those were a death trap as much as I do."

After a long silence, Lady Shinra met Ed's gaze and said, "In this current climate, I have a feeling Hojo would help us, especially if those stones were one of the things the President wanted to take away from him. Are you willing to go to him to destroy them, but make it look like you went for the testing Hojo said he wanted for his records?"

"Um...I guess I can try that, if someone like Doctor Crescent will be there, too," Ed offered, but he looked a little ill.

"I'll call her—she should still be in the department," Lady Shinra agreed. "And for tracking down the other ones, that would mean travel parties who can either meet up with Aeris and Ifalna, or who you would trust to go with you to travel and find them."

"Who do you think could leave for that kind of extended time and not be noticed?" Ed asked her in reply.

"_Why are you even trying to hide this from the President?_" Carbuncle suddenly asked curiously. "_Getting rid of the Jenova Crystals is beneficial to him, too. I don't think he would stop it._"

After a moment of silence, Lady Shinra pulled out her PHS and made a call, saying to the person who answered, "Sorry to bother you, but has Marius taken an interest in those odd stones like the one Commander Rhapdsodos and the General found?" After a pause, she asked, "All right, could I ask you to come to my office, then?" Another pause followed, then she said in amusement, "I wouldn't interrupt your work unless it was important. Honestly, you should know that by now. You won't be gone long, either." Apparently, after a moment, the other person hung up, and Lady Shinra hung up her own PHS.

"Carbuncle, to answer you," she said, looking up at the creature. "He's decided, like with stagnant Mako, that he should take them and give them to Deepground to experiment with. We don't want to keep them intact in those circumstances. Lucrecia will be here shortly for Ed, because we only have until after the noon hour at best to get them destroyed."

"_Oh. The President is truly an idiot, then,_" Carbuncle answered, shaking its head.

"I thought you already knew that, Carbuncle?" Ed asked in amusement, feeling better suddenly for some reason he didn't understand.

"_Yeah, but...I guess every new thing he does just validates it more?_" the Summon replied in a whining tone as it gave a motion like a shrug.

Suddenly, everyone was laughing.


	62. 61-Starting Solutions

Starting Solutions

Lucrecia had arrived at Lady Shinra's office looking mildly annoyed, but had switched to apprehensive since hearing what the woman wanted. After checking to make sure Ed was okay with the arrangement, she called Hojo to explain the situation to him, just to be sure he was on board. As it turned out, he was, largely just to spite the President for taking away all his viable projects and research without giving him anything in return. The facilities had already been largely arranged for Ed's testing, as well, since Hojo had been planning to ask him to visit for those tests shortly, regardless, and he only had to do a bit of tweaking for a few of the later tests in the series.

As Ed and Lucrecia rode the elevator to floor fifty-seven, Elicia on Ed's shoulder still, the woman asked, "Are you really sure about this, Ed?"

"Yes, and no," he sighed. "If I take him at his word, he didn't really have any intrusive tests to do, so it should be okay. Assuming he knows the difference, and I'm not completely sure he does, which is why I wanted you there, too. But the Jenova Crystals _need_ to be destroyed, so I'd risk it just for that."

With a faint sigh as the elevator doors opened, she said, "Let's go, then."

She led the way onto the floor, used her card to enter the Labs, and showed him to the room near the holding cells which Hojo had told her was prepared for the testing. Incidentally, the Jenova Crystals had been stored in the back cabinet of that same room, as one of the devices kept there was for reading, assessing, and stressing objects clearly filled with large quantities of energy. Testing had only barely begun on the 'stones' when they had been 'taken away' from Hojo, so all but one had been removed from the device. Now, they were all back in place, being tested.

Hojo, who stood in the middle of the room as some of his assistants worked on various devices, said, "Good, you brought him. The first few tests are scans—he can lay down on the bench there for those," the man motioned at a bench in the middle left area of the room as he mentioned said bench. "They should take less than an hour to complete." Ed noted how four assistants were taking notes on the machines the Jenova Crystals were in, but a few others were working on another machine in the back corner of the room opposite the storage cabinet.

"Does it matter if I shift around or do anything like practice some of my magic while you run the tests?" Ed asked, tone cautious. Though, at least he knew Hojo was likely to tell him the truth. Or, the truth as the man saw it.

"In the first test, yes. It's the longest, and you'd be best to just close your eyes and rest during it. The other two aren't so finicky, so you can do whatever you like for those, as long as you stay on the bench and within range of the sensors," the man replied. "I trust that will be sufficient?"

"Yeah, that's fine, thanks," Ed agreed, still tense. "What about Elicia? Should she stay out of range of the scanners?" he then thought to ask, pointing at the little robot on his shoulder.

Hojo peered at her for a minute before saying, "She's welcome to explore the room, as long as she doesn't touch any buttons or levers and doesn't leave it. As long as she's outside the range of the sensors, that's fine—the scanners don't take well to trying to read two different objects at once."

At the words, Ed lifted Elicia from his shoulder and set her on her feet on the floor, so she took Hojo at his word and began exploring the room. With no other questions, Ed made his way to the bench and laid down, for the first time feeling puzzled by what kinds of scans weren't going to be painful for a change. Normally, they were, but were rarely using machines which weren't touching him. Maybe they were things like scans for his brainwaves, which were ones rarely used on him because normally, people were trying to figure out his physical body, not his mind or mental state?

As Hojo pulled a device a lot like a small crane over top of him, letting it hover about a foot above his head and chest, the Professor said, "I'll let you know when each test is finished."

The device turned on, and Ed began to feel off-balance. It wasn't really that he felt ill or dizzy, though if he'd been standing or trying to move, he probably would have felt a lot worse, so he was thankful he wasn't. Unlike usual, it seemed the precaution to stay still was more valid than just something as simple as 'caution so there are no accidents'. Since he had the time, he closed his eyes and began working out the strings of arrays he'd need to use to target the Jenova Crystals and shatter them without it being seen. If no one saw the arrays, they couldn't pin the blame on anything but the Crystals being brittle, after all.

As he thought about how best to work it, he found that he could target arrays to apply the Change spell to, which would mean he could make their appearance match their surroundings. In Hojo's sterile, gray metal Labs, that became shockingly easy. Even though he often referred to them as 'strings' of arrays, they were actually more like several interlocking main arrays mixed together in one place, intended to cause several results where they activated. It had actually taken him a bit of active testing to validate something Genesis had instinctively always known—unlike free-hand alchemy arrays, Materia-based arrays with sub-arrays worked by activating at a distance from the caster.

At first, he'd thought that made them like alkahestry, but that also was a fallacy, because alkahestry could only be cast at a distance with the use of physical anchors, like Mei's kunais. The arrays Minerva had either created directly or had approved didn't need anchors. The sub-arrays included functions for a range they could be cast at, and while the maximum range differed by one's magical ability (Mages had greater distances naturally, but practice could increase _any_one's range), the encoding in the arrays caused space between the caster and the target to become zero. By that function, regardless of the distance, the casting was happening 'at the caster', and by extension, the spell took form _at the target_. Other than a very few high-level spells, they didn't travel, and were hard to intercept, block, or dodge for that reason.

In working out all his new arrays, Ed had realized people like Genesis were _wasting_ energy just to make something look more showy and dramatic by forcing it to travel a distance when spells weren't designed to do so. There were even times where that was useful, especially as a distraction, and Genesis had actually perfected a method of using himself as the target and using his own body to 'carry' a spell to someone or something else. For Ed's purposes, though, he'd found making the spells further undetectable was far more beneficial with greater frequency than making them flashy was. Using Change to make their normally glowing forms blend in with the surroundings was one of his ways of doing that.

At about that time, Hojo said, "We're switching to the second test now. Feel free to move if you like." Taking note of that, Ed quickly went back to his own thoughts.

Using Cleanse for the required time, then, was the only question. Could he add a function, either in an existing sub-array or as a separate one, to make it automatically hold for the time it would take to break down the Jenova Crystals? It was also going to use a substantial amount of his energy to destroy all four at once, and pretty much all his mental capacity to activate the four independent spells at the same time. Making it so he only had to focus for the activation then let it run its course would be highly beneficial. And one of the sub-arrays _did_ control spell duration...

A moment later, he knew what to adjust and how, adding a modified Silence to the arrays with Change. Shifting, he crossed his legs, tucked his far hand under his head, and let the one nearest the machines the Jenova Crystals were in drop in a relaxed manner over the side of the bench. In that 'relaxed' form, it was easy to hide the array activation and start the Cleanse of the Crystals, and as he'd expected, keeping the spell active longer kept the energy flow and the arrays active longer, as well, so keeping his hand over the side so the arrays didn't show was useful. To be safe, he'd given a count of 'thirty seconds' or 'the target ceasing to exist' as ending terms; if the thirty seconds wasn't good enough, he could always repeat it.

However, at twenty-one seconds, there was a sudden cracking and crystalline shattering sound, followed by curses and alarmed shouts. A sudden demand for silence from Hojo produced exactly that silence as Ed opened his eyes and turned to look, seeing the dead, darkened fragments of the Jenova Crystals scattered around the machine they'd been in before.

"Stop making a fuss. While I finish this test, see if anything can be salvaged besides the records," Hojo demanded, voice hard and eyes on the scanner still running the current test on Ed. "I'll have a look in five minutes or so, between the second and third tests."

For some reason, Ed felt like laughing.

He didn't, but it didn't change his sudden desire to do so, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why he wanted to laugh just then. There were so many reasons it could be, from the absurdity of Hojo bringing him in there to destroy his research to the slight smile on the man's face, which he was having a hard time forcing into an angry frown. It could have been how a bunch of 'mad scientists' freaked out so easily, or even just the fact that the Jenova Crystals had been putting more pressure on his mind than he'd realized. Whatever the case, it was rare for him to want to laugh around Hojo.

Soon after, the second scan was done and he was told to wait while Hojo and Lucrecia sorted out the mess the Crystals had made. That took another fifteen minutes or so, then the last scan was run. After that, they moved on to several other tests, only one of which was marginally painful, a bit like getting an unexpected static shock from a friend. None were intrusive besides a needle of blood being taken (which was more like standard procedure, rather than intrusive).

What became the issue was when Hojo wanted to repeat most of those tests while Ed was in his hybrid form. He only agreed when the other assistants were sent from the room (all of them were finished whatever they had been there for, anyway), leaving only Elicia and Lucrecia, who both had already seen it, and Hojo. Those tests ran faster without interruption, and it was still half an hour to noon when they finished and Ed could return to his human form after showing how his wing muscles were developing.

Needless to say, returning to Kariya's apartment was a huge relief.

FoWD

After Ed and Lucrecia left, Lady Shinra sighed faintly and faced Zack. "So, Second Fair, you know Aeris?"

"Zack, please, and yes," he agreed. "And as long as nothing bad happens to them—her and Nina—now, I'm good with that. Nothing will happen to them, will it?"

"No, not on my side," she assured him.

"_And not on Zack's, either!_" Carbuncle threw in, making Lady Shinra chuckle as Zack and Kariya both stared at it.

"How do you know that?" Kariya asked warily.

"_Because he _never_ hurts her,_" Carbuncle replied plainly. "_Never deliberately, at least, and he usually keeps anything indirect from happening, too. He legitimately likes her too much to want to see her hurt._"

"...Has that got anything to do with the 'other versions of me' Aeris said Minerva knows about?" Zack asked cautiously.

"_Yup!_" Carbuncle agreed. "_Now, you should probably decide what to do about the rest of the Jenova Crystals._"

Lady Shinra found that amusing, and said, "I've already decided what the best option is." The others looked at her, so she explained, "The only thing I'm not completely sure about is which Mage to send with you to destroy them, because all of our Mages are quite well-known and would be noticed if they disappeared for an extended time. I'll have to ask Ed later if Verde is _just_ skilled enough with magic to be able to fill the role of a Mage for the purposes of destroying the Jenova Crystals, and if he is, I'd send him with you, Zack, to meet up with Aeris so you can start tracking them down. If not, I'll have to ask Verdot if he would allow Lakis to disappear for so long, despite the fact that he's already down a Turk."

"You're not going to wait on that? At all?" Zack asked in surprise.

"Were you expecting me to when lives are on the line?" she asked in a dry tone.

"...No offense meant, but you didn't send us to find the bomb when that hole got blown in Midgar, you sent us to detach the Plates. That was just reducing the likely damage ratio, not keeping people from dying in the first place," he commented, pain and anger crossing his face as saying the words brought back his losses—Luxiere and Kunzel, and dozens of others.

"That was my fault, though," Kariya sighed, expression pained, even as a pained expression crossed Lady Shinra's face.

"Kariya—" she began in alarm.

"It doesn't matter how you want to cut that cake, Lady Shinra," he cut her off bluntly. "You _told me_ to get rid of that plasma bomb almost as soon as I joined because it was a danger to the civilian population of any city or village I happened to be in at the time. And _I_ was stupid enough to take a mission when my mind wasn't fully there, dropping that bomb right into Fuhito's hands. You wouldn't even have _known_ about that bomb to have saved the _rest_ of the city if Ed hadn't told you bluntly that I still had one on me, so that—all of it—_is_ my fault, and you were just reacting as well as you could when you had no timeframes to work with, nothing to go on, and a city to save. Because if you hadn't detached the Sectors, which you only managed with a few _minutes_ to spare, the _whole Upper Plate_ of Midgar would have fallen due to _that one bomb_. And I'm never going to make that mistake again. Those deaths—_every one of them_—is on me."

Zack could only stare in shocked horror at Kariya as Lady Shinra gazed sadly at the man. She knew it had hurt him—Hellfire, it had hurt them all!—to know those two Sectors had suffered so badly, but she hadn't realized he was literally shouldering all the blame to such an extent. Somehow, he held himself together well, but Elicia had sent back confused reports of odd behavior from Kariya which was affecting Ed in small ways, and she'd just unintentionally found out why.

"No offense, but..." Zack began softly, making the other two look at him in mild surprise. After a moment to gather his thoughts, the sixteen-year-old went on, "You're only responsible for half of that, since it was Fuhito who decided to blow a hole in Midgar, something our data on him basically says he'd have done anyway, through any means he could have gotten his hands on. It wasn't exclusive to your bomb in particular, that just made something he'd have done anyway easier. You did a couple stupid things, but the reality is—Fuhito's the one responsible for those deaths, not you."

"I don't know that you're fit to judge—" Kariya began.

"Don't tell me if I'm fit or not when I watched a dozen of my friends die as they fell with the fucking Sectors when the whole thing went down!" Zack suddenly yelled in fury as he rose, making all three freeze in surprise. Zack turned away from them to draw in several deep breaths, one hand clutching the top back of the chair hard enough to crack the wood and tear the fabric. Lady Shinra and Kariya both felt they should wait silently for him to calm down, so just watched him warily until his breathing eased and he released the back of the chair.

Without facing them, Zack explained more quietly, "It wasn't bad enough that I lost literally my best friend, Kunzel, in the search and rescue after the bombing, but my team was Angeal's—the one that was still in the tunnel between Sectors Five and Six when the bomb went off. Half my team was gone with the Sector pieces torn off, and one of my other close friends, Luxiere, he...We almost went down with the Plate, but I caught some piece of rebar and reached for him, caught him...But when he realized my grip was slipping because it was too much weight under the circumstances...He forced me to let him go, fell to his death so Angeal _might_ have enough time to reach me before I fell, too."

Finally, he turned to face them, both of whom had tears in their eyes, and said to Kariya directly, "Don't tell me I don't have the right to judge the situation after that. _You_ weren't the one who decided to set off the bomb in Midgar, and knowing the _whole_ Upper Plate would have fallen if we hadn't been detaching the Sectors—that's actually a huge point. I saw what happened when just parts of two Sectors fell, and it's easy to transpose that onto the rest of the city. I'm not happy you were so careless, Kariya, and your part in this sure didn't help, but...Like I said, if all your reports on Fuhito are true, he'd have found a way to do that anyway. It's not like his plans or goals actually changed just because he got his hands on your plasma bomb. So even though you have 'some' fault for being so careless, which you've said is a mistake you don't plan to make again, the _real_ blame is on Fuhito."

"_...Wow, even for _you_, that was _deep_..._" Carbuncle muttered in awe, and in the silence, everyone heard it. Before anyone could react, it had hopped over to land on Zack's head to pat it gently as it got comfy there. "_You're an impressive kid this time, really. Even compared to normal._"

Zack gave a wet chuckle and wiped his eyes as Kariya put his head in his hands and Lady Shinra smiled faintly. "I think I agree," she said, then looked at her Turk, who was obviously still upset. "Listen, Kariya, did you know your guilt is actually negatively affecting your charge?"

That caused the man to lift his head, gaze alarmed, as he said, "But I've been keeping it hidden from him—"

"_You seriously think you can keep something like that hidden from someone who's living with you?_" Carbuncle asked in amazement. "_Even your old memories should show that doesn't work, so why are you doing something you already know can't be done? And especially, that sort of thing doesn't work on Ed, and he'd probably have figured out soon that something was really wrong with you, just because it's intrinsically affecting him since he lives with you and you're one of the few people he still trusts not to harm him in the first place._"

After another long silence, Zack asked, "Should I be worried about that statement from this—whatever it is?" At the last, he pointed up at Carbuncle.

"That's Carbuncle, a Summon and my now regular guard," Lady Shinra answered. "Apparently, it can stay for undefined and extensive lengths of time, unlike most Summons." Her gaze moved to Kariya again as she said, "And Kariya, you can't keep holding all that blame. You've already taken steps to be sure such a thing can't happen a second time, so it's time to let it go. As Zack said, the whole blame was never yours, only a part of it, because _you_ weren't the one planning to kill so many people. Even Edward mentioned that you tended to keep it in case you ran into trouble in places like the Northern Crater, and avoided using it around people. What blame is actually yours does you no good to keep as guilt, so use it to make sure no one else will make the same mistakes."

"...I'll think about it," Kariya 'agreed', and Lady Shinra knew it was as much as she was going to get just then.

With a faint sigh and a nod at the man, she turned back to Zack to say, "To get back to the issue with the Jenova Crystals, since you already know about Aeris and are willing to protect her, you're one of the few who I would trust to travel with her. With the right incentive and-or orders, every Turk will ignore her presence as well, and they'll just treat her like a useful civilian who needs to be kept safe and healthy to do her part. The Guards will actually be friendly with her, which is why I hope Verde will do. It shouldn't take long to arrange, because unlike with what happened in Midgar, this is something we have time to seek out and remove with very few deaths, if any, in the meantime. I don't want to wait for more deaths to happen, but we have a way to target them, and mass numbers of people won't die sometime today if we don't find them this instant."

"Okay, I get that, but what about Nina? She's going to go with Aeris, and with only two fighters and a healer, will that be good enough to keep a child safe?" the Second asked shrewdly.

"Besides the Bandersnatch which is always with her, she also has healing ability," Lady Shinra replied in a dry tone which made Zack blink. "Hers doesn't work as reliably as Aeris' at this point, but she has it and can use it. If what Ifalna told me is true, her Limit Break, which she nearly always activates at will, turns damage into healing for several minutes of battle. It's like she always has a desperate need to keep others from suffering, which I'd normally say was odd for a child her age, but...She has a history not much better than Edward's, and I'm sure that's influencing her Limit Break in both form and frequency of use. It also means she'll be all right to travel with you. After all, she and Aeris traveled, just the two of them and their Bandersnatch, from Costa del Sol to Cosmo Canyon without being harmed. At all."

"...I guess that also explains Alexander's durability against a pack of Cerberuses that tried to attack her," Zack commented with a sudden chuckle. At their puzzled looks, he clarified, "Her Bandersnatch's name is Alexander. And there's a chance Deneh and Nanaki would come along with us once they knew what we were planning to do."

"That there is," Lady Shinra agreed in mild amusement. "So, I'll be in touch with you likely tomorrow about heading out on this mission with either Verde or Lakis, and you should be leaving either that day or the next. Unless something very unexpected happens, your departure shouldn't be later than that."

"Thanks," Zack agreed. "But could I ask something about the tournament?"

"You can," she agreed, wondering what he would have to ask.

"I wasn't here until it was over, but I watched the recording...and I keep wanting to ask, 'what's the point?' Lady Shinra, why did he do that instead of just announcing that there was a new elite branch of SOLDIER people could expect to see around?" the younger man asked.

She had to sigh at the words. "He did it to show off and to 'prove' his mind-controlled puppets in Deepground are stronger than SOLDIER and the Turks, not realizing that we were either losing on purpose or poorly pairing people so they would lose. We've been bluntly told we're stronger, but now isn't the time to show that to my husband, since he plans, at the first available opportunity, to use them to instate martial law. And, as always happens when he does something foolish, we'll have to clean up his mess when the time comes, so we need to keep our skills in reserve until then. That also means you keep this information to yourself, all right, Zack?"

"Sure thing," he agreed, shocked by what she had told him. "I'll be waiting for a message from you about that mission, then." She nodded, and he quickly left, Carbuncle jumping from his head and flying back to perch on top of the woman's chair.

"...So what do we do until Ed's done and I need to be back at my apartment?" Kariya asked.

For a minute, the woman was silent, but then she lifted her cane and asked with a small smile, "Help me with some practice sparring, as much as my mobility allows?"

The orange haired Turk paused in surprise, then smiled and agreed, "Sure."


	63. 62-Slipping Slowly Into Place

Slipping Slowly Into Place

When Ed, Elicia, and Lucrecia returned to Kariya's apartment, he, Lady Shinra, and Carbuncle were waiting for them. The woman eyed him for a long moment, seeing how tired he was, then asked, "Since it's obvious you need a rest, I'll keep this short. The arrays which will destroy the Jenova Crystals, is Verde strong enough with magic to be able to activate them?"

"Um...I actually don't know that," Ed answered slowly, thinking about it with a small, puzzled frown on his face. "This is the first time I've met him, and I've never seen him cast before. How many times can he cast a top spell on a Mastered Materia, or have you ever seen him make a spell work in a way it normally wouldn't?"

Lady Shinra blinked, but Kariya said, "I saw him make a Bolt spell strike more like a laser beam than a Bolt spell. It put the monster we were fighting right through a solid metal, reinforced Lab wall, and there's no known Materia which does that—not to mention, none of his Materia even count as rare ones. When I asked him about the 'laser Bolt', he said he only uses it sparingly on enemies nothing else works on, but that still means he sometimes ends up using it several times in a row before he runs dry."

Ed reached up to rub his forehead, feeling the intensity of the tension headache he already had increase at the news. "And you seriously never realized he's a Mage at least on par with Lakis? _He_ never realized that?"

Shock passed between Lady Shinra and Kariya for a moment before the woman said, "If he uses it sparingly, few would have ever seen it, so no, we didn't realize. Does that mean you could teach him the arrays needed and he'd be able to go with Zack and Aeris to take care of the Jenova Crystals?"

"All he has to do is memorize the parts. I can probably do up some copies for him by morning—he can take them with him and study them in his free time until he needs to use them. But, I'm not in any shape to do it right now," the blond sighed tiredly.

"Morning will be fine," Lady Shinra smiled. "Thank you, Edward. Go rest. I'll get Kariya to forward them to me when you have them ready, so don't push yourself too hard, all right?" He nodded tiredly and headed for Kariya's bedroom so he could return to his own apartment and rest, Elicia loyally still on his shoulder, and the woman faced Lucrecia to ask, "So, how did things go?"

"I could have _sworn_ Hojo was enjoying himself," the brown haired woman replied dryly, making the older woman blink in surprise. "Otherwise, everything went according to plan. The four Crystals we had here are dead shards of something similar to obsidian—we're still trying to work out what they became when the energy left them. None of the tests were intrusive, as Hojo promised, though he surprised us by wanting to run them all again while Ed was in his hybrid form. Even _I_ was surprised by some of the differences we found which we weren't expecting. And his wings are almost ready to actually support his weight in flight, but I have no idea who will teach him to fly when Chaos, Sephiroth, and Genesis all don't fly in the traditional sense—they use energy to help them, so they don't 'flap' or 'glide' in the way birds do."

"Well..." Lady Shinra began, suddenly finding herself at a loss for words.

"At least we still have time to give that some thought," Kariya commented. "Were those all of the tests Hojo wanted to run?"

"Most," Lucrecia answered. "There are two more we haven't been able to set up for—those will have to be done another time, now that the other arrangements for all of these now complete tests don't need to be kept."

"Good," Lady Shinra nodded. "In that case, I'll head back to my office and call Verde to discuss the situation with the Jenova Crystals with him. Thank you for your help, Lucrecia."

"Of course," the brown haired woman agreed, stepping out and followed by Lady Shinra and Carbuncle.

Kariya sighed and turned to go to Ed's room, finding him laying in bed with Elicia curled up against his chest and under his arm as she purred. "Sleeping already, Ed?" he asked quietly.

"Not just yet," the blond answered, tipping his head to the side and opening his eyes so he could see the man.

After a moment, he asked the younger man, "Have you noticed anything...different about my behavior lately?"

Ed's lips quirked as he returned his head to a relaxed position and asked, "You mean, since the bombing?" Kariya's eyes widened in shock and Ed sighed faintly and bluntly told him, "I'd have been too shocked for words if that hadn't affected you at all, Kariya. You're not a cold, heartless man—you have a bigger one than a lot of people I know—and it wouldn't have made sense for that to have not hurt you. Why you chose to hide it from me probably has a lot to do with you trying not to make me worse, but that doesn't mean I didn't notice. One obvious one was your reaction to Tifa feeding me, but there were other, smaller things. I didn't say anything because...Honestly, past yous tended to take offense to being called out on things like that, and I didn't think it would be different now."

Releasing a long, heavy sigh, the man asked, "So...I shouldn't have tried to hide it because you knew anyway?"

With a faint chuckle, Ed replied, "Hey, I can be devious and cover my tracks as well as any Turk, Kariya. I'm just as much of an actor as _you_ are. What surprises me more is that _you_ were so wrapped up in your own pain that you didn't notice any changes in _my_ behavior."

Pausing to assess the words, the man had to give a wry chuckle as he commented, "Well, now I feel all kinds of stupid. But...Are you really okay with the fact that I was the reason that hole got blown in Midgar?"

Sighing, the blond said bluntly, "I've never known a version of Midgar to not get a hole blown in it or experience a mass-slaughter if I've been there for more than about three months. I've given up blaming anyone for something which happens in every version, sometimes sooner and sometimes later. Normally, the ones doing the damage are Fuhito or the President, but that's not a use-all, and sometimes something else happened. With how reliable that part is, Midgar's destruction is an unchanging truth, and if anything, either Jenova or Minerva is the cause. Seeing your pain, your regret for your part in this variant, basically negates you from needing to feel guilt."

"Letting people off that easily is a bad idea, Ed."

"You also don't have my experiences to be able to compare repeated scenarios."

The man sighed and shook his head. "Why is everyone basically telling me what happened was fine and it's not my fault?"

The words made Ed turn to look at him flatly and say, "Don't blame yourself for actions you didn't commit, hypocrite. That's a basic grasp of the world Turks have—are _supposed_ to have. You've told me not to blame myself for things I had no control over, so don't you think it's time you start acknowledging those things and separating them out so you aren't blaming yourself for things you didn't do?" He then returned his head to the relaxed position and added, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep."

Quietly, a shocked Kariya left the room, closing the door behind him, even as he felt the sting of the younger's words. At the same time, he couldn't actually deny them, so he just sat at his kitchen table and thought hard about how to deal with things now.

FoWD

"_What the fuck_ is _going on_ up there?" a familiar voice hissed from behind him.

The words made Ruluf snort and chuckle, which he covered by forced coughing until he got it under control and could ask over his shoulder, "I think you'll have to be a little more specific, Sir. Nice greeting, by the way." Since he was standing at the edge of the alley where she usually found him, hearing her voice didn't surprise him, but her greeting did. And amused him for several reasons. As he always did when she came by, he pulled out a cigarette and made a show of lighting and smoking it.

"That _farce_ of a tournament and that group—Deepground?" she asked in reply, tone utterly annoyed.

"Yeah. You don't know what we do, having been there," he mused, taking a drag and blowing it out in a sigh. "Deepground are the guys who went after the Rui girl, and the guys who enhanced Gorgon. They're the President's private army, and to him, _everyone_ in Shinra has to bow to them, Hounds and Guards alike. We're just waiting for him to instate martial law. In the meantime, we weren't _intended_ to fight and win, not until we need to clean up the President's mess when this all goes to pot."

"...And the President didn't noticed the matches were faked—thrown for Deepground to win?" Sirra asked incredulously. "Even _I_ saw that, and I was just watching a televised recording!"

"He just saw the wins. The Restrictors probably saw we were throwing it," Ruluf answered. He released another puff, then asked, "Anything else about that?"

"Not really. I'll get an update when I'm ready to get back to the office," she answered. "Did you find anything about Fuhito?"

"Nope, sorry to say. It's like he's coming in and out of Midgar whenever he wants, and until he went to Nightcap, he had no place here where he actively operated from once we routed him from the core pillar. He being reliable over there?" the younger Turk asked.

"So far," the woman agreed. "I'm just waiting on him letting his guard down enough for me to be able to walk right behind him without him paying attention to it."

"Any idea how long that will take?" he asked apprehensively. It was a delicate situation, and everyone knew that, knew it would take time for her to be able to act. The question then became, would it be too late by the time she could?

"Dunno, but probably awhile," she grunted in annoyance. "The guy's fucking paranoid and got a stick so deep up his ass he easily out-does Tseng." Ruluf had to snort at the words, knowing how much of a perfectionist the Wutain Turk was. "I know he doesn't see 'me' as a threat, but is just generally suspicious of _everyone_, and it probably doesn't help that he's only just newly moved. But I've been tracking those guys going in and out of Nightcap—a lot of 'em are going in and not coming back out. I doubt they're dead, either, or we'd be seeing bodies or body bags leaving. Since those are mostly the Wutains disappearing..."

"They're getting under cover and staying hidden until they plan to act. Any way you could find out when that will be?" he sighed tiredly, wondering how they could stop an invasion when even Godo recalling all his troops hadn't gotten rid of them.

"Merc, remember? No investigating," she bit out in obvious annoyance directed at him, which made him feel chills.

"Yeah, sorry. Seen any leave and not come back in? Wutains especially?"

"Some, but not many. Maybe...around ten?"

"So they're ignoring their Emperor's recall."

"Looks like it." After a pause, the woman said apprehensively, "That means they plan to take over and take us as slaves, Ruluf. Set up a new Empire they control, kill or whatever anyone they don't like...Even the Emperor can't make them stop because they're declaring themselves an independent nation from him. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for them to ignore a specific recall of forces."

He hissed and muttered, "That's not good. And with Deepground...Damn, this is turning into a right fine mess. I'm going to tell Lady Shinra directly and find out what she thinks is the best option. You got time to come for a drink with me, or you got work?"

"Guard duty this evening. Long as I don't over-do the drinks, I can go for one now. One thing I know for sure—I'll be happy when I can walk by right behind him without his guard going up so I can off that fucker. Might make the Wutains think twice about their plan."

"You and me both," he agreed as he put out his smoke and followed her to wherever she wanted to go that day. Unwinding was good.

FoWD

Paperwork was the bane of every business and government which existed, which had ever existed, and which would ever exist, Janelle thought idly as she sat at her desk doing some of said paperwork. Vincent was sitting nearby with a stack of folders on his lap, and Carbuncle was on the back of her chair again, ears twitching like it was hearing sounds she couldn't. On the one hand, she wished she could get up and walk around, but on the other, she probably wouldn't get so much paperwork done if she could. At least her husband tended to do his own paperwork, rather than shoving that off on her, though she suspected a lot of that was because she wouldn't sign her name on most of the projects he commissioned.

There was a knock on the door before it opened and two Restrictors stepped inside, one with a few folders in hand, and she was able to examine them closely as they calmly approached her desk. Carbuncle had gone completely still above and behind her, and she set her pen down to face them, even as Vincent set aside his own paperwork and rose to move up beside her desk. She could tell he was as tense as a coiled spring, but his expression and most of his body didn't show it, though anyone trained in combat would recognize the fact that he was ready to fight if need be.

"What can I help you gentlemen with?" she asked cordially to the two Restrictors, wondering what was so important about them that they had to cover themselves so fully.

"The President wanted us to check with you on some of the usual training schedules for the Turks and standard SOLDIER so we don't overlap use of the facilities too much," the one with the folders replied, setting them on her desk. "Despite our own facilities being as advanced as they are, there are a few you have here which we'd like to use, since after checking their specs, they've proven more advanced still. I suppose that's the benefit to having been openly able to make use of such advancements for the last few decades."

With a nod, she reached out to pull the folders closer to her, only to pause as a spark of light just off to the side of her hand drew her eye. A dart was pressed to Carbuncle's shield, and it quickly dropped to the floor, barely making a sound. Vincent was about to jump at the other man when she resumed the motion she'd paused and said, "I'll have a look, then. Some of this you may also need to take to Lazard—he knows the SOLDIER training schedules better than I do, but I know most of the morning time slots in nearly every training room are taken."

"Lady Shinra—" Vincent began.

"Vincent, I believe you have some missions to assign?" she told him, flipping open the first folder.

He huffed, but agreed, "I do, though not many more." She was glad when he returned to his seat and pulled his folders back into his lap.

In the meantime, she saw that the folders held lists of time schedules for different rooms, so began marking down what times she knew Turks and SOLDIERs were training. Checking how far forward the lists went, she found they were lucky to go a month forward, but knew some people had scheduled events for a few months down the road in a couple of those rooms. Once she'd finished marking what she could, she set down her pen and turned to one of her drawers.

As she flipped through it, she said, "For two of those rooms, there's also a few events already registered for a few months from now, so I'll give you what data I have for those. Unless they're canceled, I think they need to stay. Some of the afternoon and evening times I've listed can likely be adapted depending on what you need." She found the papers she needed and pulled them out, then turned back to the folders and put the additional information in the appropriate ones. "Those events are also only one-off events, not repeated ones, so you only need to account for them the once," she said as she looked up at them.

The two traded looks, though she wasn't aware of their expressions. They must have known one another very well to have been able to read one another when they were fully covered. The one who had offered the folders in the first place said, "It's good that you thought to mention them, then. Would you say it's better to plan far in advance?"

"For a special, one-time event, yes," she agreed. "Otherwise, a couple weeks is good so you have the ability to adjust training times as things change. I would suggest taking this to Lazard, seeing what he can add to it, and seeing what things he can feasibly move before coming back to me. The Turks are the most adaptable group and can be most flexible with their training schedules as a result, so finalizing this with the others before me is the best option." Shutting the folders, she passed them back to the two men, noting how the same one took the folders back.

"We'll be back after speaking with Lazard, then," he agreed, and the two quietly left.

"He just tried to kill you!" Vincent growled as he looked up from his papers—which she was sure he'd made no progress on.

"I know," she replied simply, and he froze as he blinked at her.

"And you're just going to let them get away with it?" he asked darkly once he un-froze.

"They didn't," she answered. "Or I would be dead. I'm choosing not to give them or my husband any excuse to instate martial law on Shinra and Midgar."

"...At your own expense?" he asked quietly.

"_If it screws up the President's plans, it's good!"_ Carbuncle threw in cheerfully. _"And I'm pretty sure they think she was just using a Shield Materia."_

Vincent gave the Summon an annoyed look, then asked Lady Shinra, "And that means?"

"They think a Materia is doing it, thanks to my son and yours leading everyone to think Carbuncle is more of a pet than anything useful," she told him in amusement. "So if they try to take my Materia from me, thinking that will make me vulnerable, it won't work, and any methods of bypassing a Materia also won't work. The longer it takes them to realize my protection is independent of me, the better."

"_And it also means we have longer to do things to fix this,"_ Carbuncle added. _"I know you don't like that Lady Shinra was attacked—I don't like it, either. But we want martial law being enforced by Deepground _even less_, or they'll pillage and rape this city into the ground—figuratively _and_ literally—and the President won't care. The longer it takes for him to do it, the better. Them playing nice is _always_ better. Especially when we're not actually ready yet."_

"Ready for what?" Shelke's familiar, young voice asked curiously from the door, and the others looked over to see her and Stroud standing there. They were smiling, but also looked puzzled by what they may have walked into.

"_Kids!"_ Carbuncle cheered, jumping and flying towards them, making both yelp and laugh as it jumped back and forth between their heads and they tried to catch it. Finally, Shelke caught its hind feet, which caused it to be pulled to a halt mid-jump with a startled yelp, and the girl pulled it out of the air to hug it.

"Cuuuute!" she grinned, rubbing her cheek on Carbuncle's head and causing the Summon to wiggle around happily in her grip. Stroud just chuckled the whole time.

"Doesn't that ever get boring?" Vincent asked the two in amusement.

"Nope!" Stroud replied. "Anyway, we have a prototype of the device, but it needs some real testing in the actual environments it'll be used in before we can finish working out the kinks. How do you want us to do that?"

Both adults blinked, then Lady Shinra asked, "Reeve approved what you've got so far?"

"Yup," Shelke grinned. "But making the right kinds of sensors and trackers, and a good way to relay that to the one using it, is harder to do without seeing how it works in active use. We need 'volunteer test subjects' who can tell us about how it works and give suggestions—that's what Reeve said."

"We thought of having it send a signal to your PHS, but then that left the kind of signal," Stroud added. "Or having a separate device you attach to your ear and can't be seen easily. It has to be something unobtrusive or others would realize there's something going on which they could track. With that, the sensors need to be able to register a good amount of information, but if they register too much, the system and its user would get information overload. We already know we can't make it extend too far—you'll never be able to use it to find a sniper—but it can't stay too close, either."

"And that means we need people testing it to help us find a good range," Shelke added.

Vincent sighed as Lady Shinra chuckled, but the man said, "That would mean the Turks. We can give you the coding to send a volunteer test mission to the Turks as a whole so they can decide for themselves if they want to help or not. If you don't get enough volunteers to start that fine-tuning, we can ask a few of the more discreet SOLDIERs to help test it as well. Because one of the ones working on it is a Turk, it should be okay with them to help one of their own test something they'll be making use of. However, spreading it any further than that is a no-go."

"Okay, we can do that," Stroud agreed.

"Yeah, sounds like fun!" Shelke grinned, letting Carbuncle go so she and Stroud could get instruction from Vincent on how to do what they needed to do.

While the three of them were busy, Carbuncle returned to Janelle and settled on the desk in front of her. She knew that meant it knew she wanted to ask it something, so she sighed faintly and asked, "That wasn't actually a serious attack on me, was it?"

"_That was just a test,"_ Carbuncle agreed.

"How will they react to the results?" she asked shrewdly.

"_Depends on how they assessed the difficulty in bypassing your defense,"_ the small Summon told her bluntly. _"They may honestly go right to 'bombing your office' level of retaliation if they think they can't bypass your guard or just don't want to bother trying. If they have some time to work on it, they may try more tests every time they visit you for something, until they either find something which works, or until they realize they can't. Usually, the length of time they have to complete orders, and how much discretion they've been ordered to use, defines how quickly and violently they react to resistance."_

"Then I had best hope they've been told to use discretion and have some time in which to eliminate me," she sighed faintly.

"_Probably,"_ Carbuncle agreed.


	64. Omake: In Sickness

**A/N:** If President Shinra was just a little more creative in finding ways to get people to demand he (effectively) put martial law in place...

Omake: In Sickness...

Lady Shinra, Lucrecia Crescent, and Vincent had gone out to a restaurant with outdoor, covered seating to meet one of the Lady's business partners, and had decided to stay for lunch. A rail separated the eating area from the sidewalk, and flowering trellises (which were mostly plastic because living plants didn't last long in Midgar) largely kept the people in the eating area from being seen while giving them a decent view of the street. It was a day warmer than most at that time of year, so none of the three particularly cared to return to their indoor offices just yet, and Carbuncle was apparently having fun exploring the area.

At about that time, Lady Shinra saw a man running down the street in a panic as he recited, "Gotta get more toilet paper!" over and over. Going the other way moments later was a woman who was saying, somewhat lower than the man, but no less panicked, "...Find disinfectant spray..." Someone down the street yelled, "Stop crowding! Six feet apart or we're all dead!"

Raising a brow at that last statement, Lady Shinra turned to face Lucrecia as the Doctor gave a tired sigh. "So...What's going on out there?" the blond woman asked.

"The news station decided they needed to raise ratings, and have been going around announcing to people a sensationalist story about a 'respiratory infection' which is killing people," Lucrecia answered.

"...They're sensationalizing a cold _how_?" Lady Shinra asked, brow raised higher at the words.

"Primarily by not telling them that a cold and a respiratory infection are the same thing, by not calling it a cold at all—in fact, they sometimes mis-label it as a flu—and by giving the death toll. Of course, they're also letting people think it's the 'respiratory infection' which is killing them, not the usual complications caused by a compromised immune system," Lucrecia informed the woman in amusement. "And they recently decided to re-name this cold by the terms of that flu which transferred to us from an animal, and have always been referring to it as an 'outbreak' and a 'pandemic', which it's not even close to yet."

"Sorry, but what's the difference between a cold and a flu? I thought they were the same thing?" the Turk with them asked in puzzlement. After all, medical knowledge wasn't in a Turk's job description, even if they knew some injury first aid.

"That's also due to the media using the words like they're interchangeable," Lucrecia sighed. "An actual 'flu' causes things like stomach aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It's a short, but worrisome list if it doesn't stop in two days or less. A cold, on the other hand, causes the nice long list of possible symptoms which includes sore throat, coughing, sneezing, stuffy nose, runny nose, headache, and fever."

"And what kinds of statistics does this cold have?" Lady Shinra asked of the brown haired woman.

"It's largely behaving like a normal cold for anyone under age seventy, with the exception of it somehow not targeting children unless they have an especially compromised immune system. Age seventy and above has higher rates, particularly of deaths, with a little over seven percent chance of dying due to complications from seventy to eighty and a fifteen percent chance above eighty. Of the people who have died, about ninety percent have been the very elderly in nursing homes, care homes, and hospitals. That's of the people we know who have it, which is maybe about ten percent of the people who have gotten it and just went about their normal lives thinking it was a common cold. The total death toll is about three and a half percent overall, which is only about one percent higher than it would be of complications from a common cold."

"That's not overly extreme," Lady Shinra blinked. "Why do you say it hasn't reached pandemic level yet?"

"For that matter, what _is_ pandemic level?" Vincent asked.

"A certain portion of the world population needs to have something for it to be called a 'pandemic'. That's not a percentage, it's a stipulated number the President set at around 30 million (1). If this was more deadly, calling an outbreak may be feasible, but because it's just a 'respiratory infection', that's not an outbreak of anything, despite some deaths having happened, like they always do. And to be honest, we haven't even hit a quarter of a million infected yet, even taking into account all the people who had it and were never tested."

"...So...Since when are death tolls due to complications of a cold ever given to the public?" Lady Shinra asked, suddenly feeling a headache coming on. And she was suddenly very thankful her husband wasn't paying any attention at all to this.

"They normally aren't," the Doctor shrugged.

"But if people are dying, shouldn't the public be informed so they can take measures to prevent illness?" Vincent asked, brow furrowed.

He blinked when both women sighed, but then Lucrecia met his gaze and said bluntly, "Vincent, people have _always_ died from complications to _any_ illness going around, _including_ common colds. Those with weakened immune systems, like with chronic illness or those who are very aged or very young, have always been more susceptible to those complications than the average person. Most recovered regardless, and some didn't. And in this case, again, the young aren't really at risk at all. With the death toll only being around three and a half percent, it's really nothing to worry about."

"But that's still a lot of people!" Vincent exclaimed, though quietly.

"Did you know around fifteen percent of the world's population dies in car accidents every year?" the woman replied in annoyance. He blinked and opened his mouth, so she added quickly, "Compared to all of about three and a half percent dying of this cold, which one do you think you have better odds of surviving—the fifteen percent deaths or the three and a half?"

He tipped his head to the side in confusion, then asked, "Aren't people being told all this?"

"That's where the newsmedia has massively failed to do their jobs as journalists," Lady Shinra informed him. "They're all about the money—and sensationalism—now, not about truthful reporting. I would guess they 'know' these statistics, but are choosing not to share them, or being ordered not to, so everything sounds much worse than it is."

"Okay, but this cold is notable for a fever and a dry cough, so how could people miss that combination?" Vincent asked with a small frown.

"Newsflash, _Vinny_," she retorted, clearly annoyed enough to mock her lover's name. "The reality is, until about twenty years ago, a common symptom of a cold was a fever because that was an indication the immune system had booted up fully to manage the illness. That lack of accompanying fever for the last twenty years indicates an immune system being so stressed it can't react to illness the way it _should_. In other words, it's been compromised. And the reasons for _that_ are all around us, with the poisons in the air, the water, the ground—our food and our drinks. Yet, despite that, this cold is only marginally better at compromising our systems than previous ones."

"Or because it's an external virus, our bodies are reacting poorly to it," Vincent said.

Lucrecia smirked. "That's actually not possible because our bodies all have the cold virus—nearly every kind—inside them at all times, including four versions of this one. All they need is a trigger to make one grow in excess and overtake our systems. The overgrowth is the 'cold'. And the most common trigger for a cold is doing something as inane as changing the amount of sunlight—or Vitamin D—you get in a day, which is why spring and fall are common 'cold seasons'. Of course, another trigger is someone passing on extra of one virus, which in turn makes our corresponding virus enter overgrowth. Our bodies manage colds just fine, and need some pretty serious compromising to actually cause severe illness or death."

"So what are examples of external illnesses, then?" Lady Shinra blinked in surprise.

"Things like tuberculosis, malaria, or the measles," the Doctor answered promptly. "All of which I would be much more worried about than I would worry about this. Even a flu is external, and more dangerous, than this cold."

There was shouting on the street about a shop being closed, and Lady Shinra sighed as she asked, "And they're actually so taken in by the sensationalism of the newsmedia that they're _willingly_ destroying their own livelihoods and the economy?"

"What?" both of the other two asked in surprise.

"When shops shut down, they make no money and don't employ people," she said. "The same is true of any business, factory, service, school—it means people are choosing to stay home and have no income for an undefined amount of time. How will they pay bills or rent? While some building managers may allow leniency for them not paying their rent on time, most of them are in it for the money and will quite happily evict anyone who can't pay because they went into a panic about a cold. When people aren't making money, they aren't spending it,either, and the economy collapses."

"Here's another one for you," Lucrecia said, tone derisive. "One of our associates actually came to us—myself and Hojo—to demand we make a vaccine for a cold. Even though a flu vaccine is semi-possible because it's external, a cold is impossible to create a vaccine for. It was amusing to see Hojo look so incredulous. He said we could try it, but he wasn't holding out much hope of succeeding, and even hopes the President will let him publicly announce to the people that anyone claiming to have made a vaccine is either offering a dud or something toxic. Believe me, if it was possible to make a vaccine for a cold, we'd have done it by now."

Out on the street, someone called a few Infantry members over to help manage people going into a shopping center, and Lady Shinra sighed. "The fools. I hope this doesn't reach my husband's ears."

"Why?" Vincent asked in confusion, and Lucrecia looked curious.

"Because a store just asked the Infantry to help manage people entering and exiting," she answered dryly. "First, people are putting themselves on lockdown and trying to enforce strict distances, and now they're practically demanding martial law be enforced. And we all know, once it's enforced, it won't be removed again, but apparently panic makes people think they should just let their rights be taken away. Or even demand their rights be taken away, if they want the military to do things like this. Hence why I hope my husband doesn't get wind of this."

"...Okay, now I'm actually starting to worry about their sanity," the brown haired woman sighed faintly.

"...I think I am, too," Vincent added, looking distinctly alienated.

"...Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected more from sheeple," Lady Shinra sighed.

"And yet, you won't just leave them to a fate they're bringing on themselves?" the other woman asked in amusement.

"I'd be inclined to let them do as they wished if I was the one in power because I would be honorable enough to remove the 'safety measures' when they weren't needed anymore. I honestly don't think they realize what my husband would enforce on them if they give him so much power," the woman replied. "Because I know what kind of tyrant he _actually is_, I can't, in good conscience, leave them at his mercy, even if they practically beg to be led to the slaughter like lambs."

"That's actually a bit of a pity just now," Lucrecia chuckled. "But as always, he won't hear about this from us." Vincent nodded his agreement, and Lady Shinra smiled.

Only to sigh as yet another person ran away screaming bloody murder after someone sneezed and the one who sneezed said plaintively, "But it was just dust in my nose..."

**Notes:**

So yeah...I'm insanely tired of the ridiculous level of panic COVID-19 is producing. So, my roommate and I did some research into things like common colds, COVID-19, actual numbers and statistics, and some comparable, much more common ways to die. This little piece, which pokes fun at panic (which helps no one), was the result. Other than the specific number for 'pandemic' status, everything else is about COVID-19, reactions as much as actual data, from multiple sources which _do not include_ the newsmedia.

(1) I've adjusted this, because on a much smaller world with a much smaller population, the number would probably be about 30 million for full-scale pandemic level, rather than the 300 million of Earth. After all, Midgar is the only metropolis, and has a population between 35 million and 40 million.


	65. 63-Release of Tension

Release of Tension

Ed was annoyed to have Tseng sprawled on his couch, apparently half-asleep, and Genesis sitting in one chair as he rubbed his eyes. It was late evening, and he'd been working on the arrays Verde would need when Tseng had shown up, checked to make sure Yufi wasn't around, then took off his suit jacket and settled in, followed about half an hour later by the SOLDIER. Since neither seemed inclined to talk to him, and since Tseng was apparently ignoring Genesis' presence and not trying to hide behind his suit, Ed just went back to drawing arrays. It didn't stop him from being annoyed. Elicia apparently sensed that, and was draped around his neck, purring into his ear.

Finally, Genesis said, "I didn't want to believe I'd really have to use those arrays to kill Nero, but even switching some of them out to be closer to Cleanse...It still very nearly killed him if the Restrictor hadn't ordered him to pass out."

Ed looked up at the man and replied, "He's infused with stagnant Mako. Even if his mind could theoretically be saved, his body will be destroyed by default by anything which would actually stop his power from working."

Sighing, the older man asked in a pained tone, "There's really no other way?"

For a minute, the blond was silent, but then he said, "There would be one other possibility, assuming I could get close enough to him to touch him, and I'm not sure what it would actually create or whether or not Minerva would even let it work."

"What does that mean?" the red haired man asked with a deep, puzzled frown.

Shaking his head, the younger man offered, "I found very early on that I could compress the Mako in a person's body into a Materia shard outside it, reverting them to an ordinary, un-enhanced human. But, I've only used that on people with normal or refined Mako in their bodies, not stagnant Mako, and I don't think stagnant Mako can form into any Materia other than the Protomateria, which is the only known method of forcibly controlling a being called Chaos. With its exposure to Nero, what it is would change, and by default, it _couldn't_ create a second Protomateria. Also, if Minerva knew it would create something purely destructive, she'd prevent it from working, and Nero would end up dead—very painfully and disturbingly—regardless."

"My method would have been 'painful and disturbing', too," Genesis sighed.

"The arrays I _actually gave_ you are both instant and painless, if shocking," Ed replied flatly, and Genesis lifted his gaze to him in shock. "My method, if it rebounded, would _rip_ his physical body apart and scatter it. And it would be _exceedingly_ painful for the one experiencing it until they fell unconscious, died, or the reaction stopped. Trust me, those kinds of rebounds _hurt_. And that's _on top of_ what the rebound would do _to me_ as the caster. Would you rather something painless we _already know_ won't rebound onto you, or would you rather risk mass suffering on the parts of _two_ people?"

For a long minute, the other man was quiet, but then he sighed faintly and nodded. "I see your point." Again, he fell into silence, so Ed went back to drawing. When he finished the array he was working on, Genesis asked, "Have my wings ever been streaked with white and black before, in your vast knowledge?"

Shaking his head as he went to work on the next array, the blond told him plainly, "I've only ever seen you with dove gray or black wings not quite as dark as Sephiroth's. You obviously have the capacity to have white in your wings to arrive at dove gray, it just never happened before. And to be honest, I think the coloring is partly reflective of your genetics and partly of your mental state, due to the change in color they experienced in the first place."

"Mental state?" Genesis blinked. "It couldn't be genetics if it could change."

"It could if different parts of your genetics were active at the time they first emerged," Ed answered plainly, looking up at him to meet his eyes. "There were two commonalities. If you stayed sane long enough, and by extension got external genetics added to your system to fix your body's degeneration, your wings only emerged after that and were dove gray. If, on the other hand, you never got that fix and went insane, your wings were black. This time, they went streaked, but this is the first time you activated them before either getting infusions or going insane."

The red haired man huffed as Tseng started chuckling. "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Turk," Genesis pouted at the chuckling Wutain.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Ed is shockingly open with you," Tseng replied, rolling over and sitting up on the couch to look at the two.

"Does that mean you're ready to tell me why you're here?" Ed asked him dryly.

To both Ed's and Genesis' surprise, the Wutain sighed and gave his head a shake. "I needed to relax, and with my sister being away from the city, I can't exactly go to her to do so."

Ed's brow rose into his hairline as Genesis snorted and said pointedly, "That's hardly a reason, just an excuse."

"Especially since you could apparently also go to Ansha if all you wanted to do was 'relax'," Ed added. "So, why are you here, really, Tseng?"

"...Ruluf reported back after talking with Sirra earlier today," he said quietly, obviously relenting. "The Wutains in the city largely didn't leave when the Emperor called all his forces back, so there's a good chance they've broken away from Wutai entirely and are operating as a mercenary company with plans to form a new Empire. Here. If what you said earlier about Crescent Unit is true, these are the same ones who would kill me if they knew about me. And if they take over here, they'll know about me. Is there really no way to stop them before they attack?"

"If we know where they've gone to ground, it would be possible to launch an attack on them there, but that's assuming the hunt for Fuhito goes well enough to be able to interfere in Sirra's mission," Ed offered.

The man sighed and rubbed his upper arms with his hands, like he was cold. "Which we can't do right now, but we can't disregard the possibility of being able to strike first. That doesn't stop them from doing harm in the meantime."

"No offense meant, but why does this mean so much to you?" Genesis asked in surprise and worry. "I mean, I get that it's bad for Midgar, and especially for the civilians and those in the Slums, but your reaction's too strong to just be reacting to the harm they could do in general."

Tseng's eyes darted around for a moment, then rested on Ed's pleadingly, so the blond sighed and told Genesis, "The Wutains here now are the same ones who tortured Tseng's family to death when he was ten. He only survived the torture because he wasn't quite dead yet when they threw his body in the ocean, and the Turks fished him out of it and got him medical care before he died."

After a shocked pause, Genesis muttered, "Well, that's morbid." He paused, then lifted his gaze to Tseng's pained one, saying, "They'll do it again, and not just to you, but to a lot of others as well." The Wutain nodded, and Genesis sighed. "One more layer to the danger. Why not?"

"There are enough forces here to handle them if they try an invasion, even one which AVALANCHE is bolstering," Ed answered. "Even at half-strength or less, this city can't be overthrown that way—the Turks and SOLDIERs won't let it. And with there being so many more Turks here than there've ever been before, that'll hold even more true. Even _without_ my help in the fight, though there _is_ something I _would_ do to help, my mental state aside."

"Which is?" Genesis blinked in surprise.

Ed gave him a wryly amused look and said, "Way back, I'd had a being—kind of hitch-hiking on me whose Limit Break was to summon every Summon I had slotted all at once to attack or heal or whatever. Ever since it lost its temper and used me to do that the very first time, I've been able to summon multiple Summons at one time. I'd start calling all my most powerful ones out to help stop them and heal people, which would easily be one of every existing Summon, including ones you don't have registered in your systems yet."

Both men's eyes widened, then Tseng commented, "That must be a very handy skill to have."

"Yes, sometimes," Ed agreed. "It has definite uses. But frankly, even though the Wutain invaders may get a chance to attack and do some damage, they aren't the _real_ threat—that's the President and Fuhito."

Tseng smiled faintly as he settled back against the back of the couch, and Genesis just shook his head in bemusement. Ed went back to his arrays for a bit, wanting to get them done that night—he knew them so well already that it didn't take him long to draw them out. Even though he was somewhat pressed for time, he felt good just being able to draw them out and know someone was going to use them. Maybe, he'd get the chance to explain things better to Verde when he got back from the trip he'd be taking with Zack and Aeris. But still...So many Jenova Crystals...What was going on?

As he finished drawing an array, Genesis commented suddenly, "Could you switch out the target controls for the assessment codes in the Elemental and Added Effect Materias? Since there's no actual target other than 'someone touching you', and the assessment needs to be tied directly into that, putting them together in one array might make them interact properly."

"What?" Ed asked in confusion as he looked up at the red haired man.

"Those poisoned spikes of yours," Genesis clarified.

"There are too many coding requirements to do that, though," Ed frowned. "Three whole sub-arrays manage the assessment functions of those two Materias. That's why nothing was working—too many pieces were missing. I'd need to transpose all three arrays to make it work."

"Um..." Tseng began, making the other two look at him in surprise. He then said, "I don't think those spikes count as a weapon, I think they count as gear—as armor. In which case, the only assessment functions they need are the ones for armor."

"...What?" Ed blinked in surprise as Genesis looked thoughtful.

"Yes, they poison someone who touches them, but you don't actually hold them in your hands or use them to attack. They're a passive item which stays on you, like an armor piece or a bracer," Tseng explained. "I don't know much about your arrays, but I think your problem is that you've been treating them like a literal weapon when they aren't one."

"That would actually make sense," Genesis agreed. "And it never worked before because we kept using the wrong sub-array, the one for reaction when in a weapon. Trying it with the armor one might work, then, and after that, it would just be the fine-tuning." He looked at Ed and asked, "So that would mean what I said before would be applied to just one of the three arrays you meant, but the opposite one from the one we were trying it with before."

"I'll think on that while I keep working on these arrays, then, and we can compare notes when I'm done. If you want, grab a paper and pen and work on what you think it would be for that one," Ed agreed.

"You can't stop to work on it?" Genesis asked in amusement, but still reached for the indicated paper and pen to begin drawing.

"These are for Lady Shinra, not myself," the blond answered dryly, tapping the small stack. "And I don't have long to get them to her with some instructions for the Mage who's going to have to cast them with no training in how to cast free-hand."

"Oh..." both other men stared, then Genesis went to work and Tseng laid down again to settle in.

Seeing how both of them were apparently making themselves fixtures there, he just sighed faintly and went back to work, even as Elicia giggled into his ear.

FoWD

By the time morning came around, both Tseng and Genesis were still at his place, and he was annoyed enough to show it, especially when he was woken by Yufi jumping on Tseng and the older Wutain retaliating by smacking her hard enough for it to echo. He'd have truly been worried if Yufi's reply, "Ow!" hadn't been followed by her laughter and Tseng's grumbling. What made him get out of bed in shock was hearing Genesis ask, "Holy Alexander, how does _anyone_ get any sleep around here with her here?" When he saw Genesis lounging in one of the chairs, that was when the shock turned to annoyance.

"Really?" he asked, making Yufi run to him to hug him as she declared, "Victory!"

"What victory?" Genesis asked in confusion as he covered a yawn with one hand.

"She managed to 'surprise' me," Tseng sighed faintly. "Though I don't know that being woken from sleep counts."

"It does!" Yufi burst out. "It _so_ does! I've caught you in your bed and sleeping before, too, and never got to surprise you, so it counts!"

"She's got you there, Tseng," Ed smirked, and Tseng rolled his eyes—then suddenly sat up and stared at Ed in shock. "What?" the blond asked, suddenly apprehensive.

"...You've never made an expression like that before, not since we found you," Tseng answered, still looking surprised.

"What?" he asked again, still not grasping what he was getting at.

"You smirked," Genesis answered in amusement. "Now that I think about it, he's right—I've never seen that particular expression on your face before. It looks good on you." At his impish grin, Yufi giggled and added her own agreement.

In surprise, Ed reached up to touch his face, then blinked and muttered, "Damn, it's been a long time since I've smirked...I never thought it would feel natural after so long..."

"Does that mean we can go out today and explore?" Elicia asked eagerly, jumping up to hold onto his shoulder.

"Yeah! That would be awesome!" Yufi exclaimed eagerly. "Please?"

Genesis and Tseng traded looks, only to be interrupted as Kariya's annoyed voice asked from behind Ed, "You two spent the whole night here? What gives?"

Again, Tseng and Genesis traded looks, then Tseng bluntly told Kariya, "We stayed because we felt like it, and Ed never bothered to tell us to leave."

"Not that I'd expect him to when he still usually doesn't tell us when something's bothering him," Kariya pointed out, still looking very annoyed. "Aren't you glad I decided to come over here _before_ starting breakfast, otherwise you'd have nothing to eat?"

"That, I appreciate," Tseng agreed with a smile. His gaze went to Ed and Elicia as he said, "I have work today which is already scheduled, so I can't go with you if you go wandering. SOLDIERs tend to have more free time unless assigned an urgent mission, so maybe Genesis could go with you if you decide you want to explore?"

"Sure thing—I didn't have any plans for today anyway," Genesis agreed.

"I could go with you, too!" Yufi chirped.

"Aren't you supposed to be in training?" he asked her dryly.

"I was told I had today off," she answered him, sticking her tongue out at him. "You can even ask Cissy!"

"...Please don't call her Cissy..." Tseng sighed in a pained tone. Yufi just stuck her tongue out at him again.

Kariya sighed faintly and shook his head as he asked, "So what about Shelke, Yufi?"

"She can come with us, too!" Yufi promptly replied with a huge grin. "Right, Shelke?"

"Yup! I'll be there soon!" the girl's cheerful voice replied from...Yufi showed them the game system for the Battle Pets game she had been keeping at her waist, and which was now in her hand.

"...What just happened?" Genesis blinked in surprise.

"Oh, you could already talk with typed messages on Battle Pets, but Shelke turned ours into phones so we can just talk to each other," Yufi grinned. "So instead of using my PHS, I just talk with her like this."

Kariya held a hand to his face and muttered, "Was getting her a Battle Pets game _really_ a good idea?"

"Yes," Ed replied dryly.

Lowering his hand, Kariya asked, "You _do_ realize Yufi, Genesis, and Shelke just decided _you're_ going out after breakfast, right?" When Ed's eyes widened in surprise, he added, "Didn't think so."

That time, as Yufi giggled, they could also hear Shelke giggling with her. And then Elicia added, "Yay! This will be fun!" Genesis and Kariya snorted, Tseng's lips twitched in amusement, and Ed sighed.

"I guess it's been taken out of my hands," Ed muttered, then gave Kariya a pitiful look. "Wish me luck."

"For what? The 'going out' part or the 'dealing with Yufi and Shelke' part?" the man asked in amusement.

"Both," Ed replied dryly, producing more giggles from the girls in question.

"I think you'll be fine," Tseng told him with a faintly amused smile.

"Thanks," the blond answered him in a dry tone.

To his surprise, Tseng rose and moved over to him to rest a hand on his shoulder, meeting his gaze evenly as he said gently, "Ed, you haven't seen how much your state of mind has improved lately, with the latest round of therapy and Elicia's addition to your life. The rest of us—_we have_. I honestly feel you'll be all right, even if something unexpected or dire comes up while you're out. Now, _you're_ the only one who needs to believe that."

Ed suddenly swallowed harshly as tears came to his eyes, and the Wutain reached out to pull him into a hug. The surge of emotion which came from hearing someone else so sure of his ability to manage was mind-boggling, and even though the tears didn't fall, he still needed time to compose himself, face pressed into Tseng's shoulder as he did. It was only once the surge of emotion had mostly passed that he realized he was _letting Tseng hug him_. _Tseng_! His brain broke for a moment before he gave a weak chuckle and pushed back to look up at the man.

"I think you're right if you _really were_ just able to _hug_ me without getting a reaction," he admitted in wry amusement.

After a moment, Tseng smiled as well. "I'm glad."

"Okay, enough sappy stuff!" Yufi suddenly pronounced. "Let's get some food and go exploring!"

Everyone was suddenly laughing, even Tseng and Edward, then they made their way to Kariya's apartment so he could prepare the meal. Shelke got there soon after he started cooking, so he made enough for her as well. It didn't take long for him to finish and set out the meal, or for everyone to finish eating, the first one to leave the table being Ed to go shower and change. Tseng left around the time he did to get to the Turks' office for a project Verdot wanted him to work on, and the others just sat around and talked or played games while they waited for Ed.

When he returned, ready to go out, Elicia returned to his shoulder and Genesis led the way out while Shelke and Yufi practically ran circles around them. For the most part, the outing was peaceful (or as peaceful as it _could_ be with two energetic girls), and the only issue they ran into was when several training groups left their rooms at the same time, causing the group to lose sight of one another. Knowing he'd have to wait for the rush of people to stop before trying to find the others, Ed managed to make his way to a window nearby, down a side hall, and stood looking out at the ground below.

It was still shocking to him to realize he had raptor sight and could pick out the details of people on the street below. He saw a group of four SOLDIER Firsts heading back towards the building and could see their details so clearly that he knew the one in the lead was Angeal. Perversely, heading away from the building were Rufus and another Turk he recognized as Rude, and several paces behind them were Freyra and Illis. All of them were heading in the same direction. A space had been cleared to one side, and he could see Weiss and Rosso sparring there, surrounded by crowds of civilians and Shinra employees alike.

"You seem awfully genial to us," a woman's voice commented to him, and he looked to the side it had come from—to see Argento standing a few paces away and watching him with a puzzled expression. Elicia gave a little 'eep' and quickly scrambled back along the window rail to Ed's shoulder.

"You want to know why?" Ed asked her cautiously.

"I do, because any reports we have on you indicate that you don't do well with people like us," she answered.

His brow rose and he asked, "I thought Weiss said you weren't given information on me?"

"Collectively, 'we' weren't," Argento agreed. "But I'm one of the trainers, one of the ones who introduces new members to Deepground and how it functions. On the assumption that you would become one of us, I would need to train you. They couldn't leave me blind to that indefinitely."

She was always shrewd. That also never failed. Turning back to his view, he asked, "Do you know about my past and some of my reported abilities?"

"Like knowing things you shouldn't know?" she asked with a raised brow, her one good eye seeming vaguely amused. "Your knowledge base is in keeping with Leviathan's Blessing; however, you aren't actually showing any of the other signs of having it. I left the Restrictors to think that was what you had experienced, but _I_ know your situation is something else. And it doesn't negate the fact that you don't do well with people like us."

Damn, she was _really_ trying to unsettle him, wasn't she? Sighing, he agreed, "Yes, that. I've actually been one of Deepground three times before now, and many other times, actively fought against you. By all rights, I should be catatonic standing here with you right now." He paused and sighed again as he added, "But you and Weiss were _always_ sane, and were never my enemies, with only one exception where Weiss went off the deep end, too. I have enough enemies, and enough people to fear, without adding people who have never willingly harmed me to the list, regardless of where you came from or where you've been for the last few years."

For several long moments, she was quiet, but then she asked softly, "Will you free us from our chains, then? If you know the truth, _will_ you? _Can_ you?"

His gaze lifted back to her single, Mako-blue, hopeful eye. "If I can find any way to deactivate those control chips, I'll do it. If we can get rid of the Restrictors, I'll do that, too. Those of you who can still be saved—I want to see you free, because you _really are_ good people who can be something worthwhile in, helpful to, and _part of_ this society, this world."

Her eyes widened in momentary shock, then she offered him a small smile. "I'll hope that time comes sooner rather than later, then. Thank you."

After a silent pause, Elicia said reverently, "Wow...That was—like, one of those 'sacred moments' Shelke told me about, right? It really felt like it!"

Both of the humans blinked, then giggled, only to be interrupted by Genesis calling, "Ed, there you are!" He ran up with the two younger girls, glanced at Argento, then asked, "You're all right, yes?"

"I'm fine. Great timing, by the way," Ed agreed in amusement, still wanting to laugh over Elicia's words. "Can we get something to eat please?"

"Would you like to try going out to a restaurant, or over to Angeal's so he and Tifa can feed you?" Genesis asked in reply, giving a nod to Argento, who schooled her expression to a neutral one before returning it.

"Tifa's cooking is awesome!" Yufi grinned. "If we can't go to a restaurant, that's good, too!"

"Yeah!" Shelke agreed happily.

Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Ed replied, "I think Angeal and Tifa are a safer bet just now."

With agreement from the others, Argento went her own way and the others all headed to the SOLDIER First floor to go to Angeal's for lunch.


	66. 64-Unexpected Offer

Unexpected Offer

A week had passed and Zack and Verde were just arriving back at Cosmo Canyon, as the best way to disguise what they were actually doing was for them to be dropped at Costa del Sol for recon and investigation, then send back a report stating a need to 'track a target'. They had walked from Costa del Sol, and Zack had been finding Verde to be an interesting fellow he would never have expected to have been born and raised in the Midgar Slums. As they were reaching the stair to the town, Zack paused as he heard scuffling above, turning his gaze upward.

And he gaped as he saw Nina trying to climb (down, he thought?) the side of the cliff with something in one arm. Beside him, Verde—who had followed his gaze—said, "I don't think we should just leave that girl to her own devices."

"No, that's—" Zack began as he took a step towards the canyon wall below her.

In the next moment, her grip slipped and she fell backwards, too shocked to even scream, as she struggled to pull the thing (was it an animal?) close to her chest.

"Nina!" Zack shouted in alarm, and jumped forward as he pulled on every enhancement he could to jump and catch her, rolling to absorb the impact. She 'eeped' when he first caught her, then went silent until they stopped with Zack sprawled rather uncomfortably at the bottom of the stairs, his hips and legs on them and Nina on his chest. He released a relieved sigh as he felt her sit up.

"Big Brother Bear!" she gasped, then chirped, "You saved me again! Thank you!"

"Great," he agreed. Then he asked in a dry tone, "So, what were you doing up on the canyon wall, and where're Aeris and Alexander?"

"Oh, one of the kitties had baby kitties, you remember?" she asked.

"Yeah, so?" he asked, using his feet to push on the stairs so he slid backwards across the ground until his hips were on the ground and he could sit up.

"A—I think they called it a Skeeskee?" Nina began, and Zack nodded. "It chased one of the baby kitties to a little hole up there and hurt it. I was trying to get the kitty back safely." She then opened her hands to show a small, brown kitten with scratches across its back. The kitten looked up and meowed pitifully, claws gripping tightly into the front of Nina's brown vest.

"...Okay, and Aeris and Alexander?" Zack asked tiredly as he cast a healing spell on the kitten, closing the wounds and causing the kitten to fluff out all its fur and cling more tightly to the girl.

"Alexander chased the Skeeskee away," Nina replied promptly, but didn't say anything about Aeris. A happy bark announced Alexander's return to them, even as the Bandersnatch licked Zack's face and sniffed eagerly at Nina and the kitten, the latter of which hissed at him.

"...So, what about Aeris?" Verde asked dryly, and Nina blinked at him.

"That's Verde. He's a friend," Zack assured the girl.

"Zack! You found Nina!" Aeris called in relief from further up the stair, as she'd just come around the bottom bend in the stair. "What happened?"

"She apparently went looking for one of the town's kittens after it was attacked," Zack replied in amusement. "And I seem to have a habit of arriving just in time to catch her when she falls from a height." Aeris giggled at the words, then hoisted a sack she carried onto her shoulders and headed down the stairs towards them with another in her hands. "Were you planning on an outing?" he asked, seeing the two bags.

"Yes. With you," she replied to him dryly in amusement.

"Um...Should I ask?" Verde asked, staring at the two bags.

"...Minerva told you?" Zack asked suddenly, realizing that was the most likely option.

"Because Auryn told her she should let us know in advance, she did," Aeris agree.

"Uh...Do you mean Ed? I think someone said he finally switched back to his own name?" Zack asked in confusion.

"Yup!" Nina agreed. "Little Big Brother is Edward Elric! And Auryn Rune! But the kitty has to go back to town before we leave!"

Just then, Deneh and Nanaki bounded down the stairs, halting with sighs as they saw the kitten in Nina's hands. Deneh, who wasn't carrying a saddlebag-like pair of sacks on her back, said, "I'll take the kitten back to its mother and catch up to you. Which direction are you planning to head in from here?"

Verde just stared at her as she moved forward to pick up the kitten by the scruff of its neck with her teeth. Nina had to pry its little claws free, and Zack answered while the girl was working, "We thought the best bet was to head north, clear out that area, and come back south, do the Midgar continent, then head to Wutai. We'd work on the out-of-the-way areas after that, if Minerva tells you there are more out in those places. The northern continent would be last, once everything else has been cleared."

Finally, the kitten was free of Nina's vest, so Deneh nodded once, then headed back up the stairs. The others started walking past Cosmo Canyon, along the path which led to Nibelheim. "They can talk..." Verde muttered in stunned shock, producing chuckles from the others.

"That was Deneh, and this fellow is Nanaki," Zack said, introducing Verde to the two Motos. Nanaki gave Verde a nod, which the blond man returned. "Obviously, the Bandersnatch is Alexander, the munchkin is Nina, and the young lady is Aeris."

"Our guide, yes," Verde agreed, nodding to her. She grinned in reply.

"And everyone, this is Verde. He was Lady Shinra's first choice to destroy the—what Ed calls Jenova Crystals—for us. His first try is going to be trial and error, though," Zack finished the introductions.

"Okay, but I have another task to add to our outing," Aeris put in.

"What's that?" Verde asked in mild surprise.

"In theory, it shouldn't take us much out of our way, but there are a lot of Materia scattered around that Minerva wants us to collect so they don't fall into the wrong hands," Aeris explained. "Au—Ed and I already destroyed the two which would be—well, planetary kill-switches, but that doesn't mean ones like Knights of the Round are safe to leave out and about. She's mapped those in my mind for me because A—Ed has found them in certain places so many times. With the directions I have for the Jenova Crystals, it seems in a lot of cases, they're oddly close together. Until we get to them, we won't know how close, though. Usually, Aur—Ed would do this, but..." Aeris then gave an annoyed look at nothing and muttered, "I'm going to have to remember that..."

"It's not currently possible for Ed to do this," Verde agreed with a faint sigh and a chuckle at her annoyance. "Believe me, getting used to his real name is work. Anyway, we're also supposed to map the locations of the Jenova Crystals on a map I've got, and every so many locations, we're to report them back to Lady Shinra."

"Why?" Aeris blinked.

"Ed thinks something is wrong with this situation, both where they're being put and how many there are—something bigger than just Jenova trying to influence or kill people," Verde explained. "But he won't be able to tell what without having a lot of points where he can track them to see a bigger pattern. That means there's also the possibility they're in the ocean, too, not just on land."

Aeris' eyes widened and she said, "That may be why some of the directions Minerva points me in aren't right—if they were in the ocean, on the ocean floor or buried under it..."

"That means we need that Underwater Ma-ter-ia, right?" Nina chirped, and Aeris huffed in amusement.

"Yes, which is another reason we need to collect the Materia," she agreed.

"All right, then," Verde said with a shrug. "We're good now that we have a plan."

Deneh returned to them around then, and she and Verde were introduced to one another. They traveled until nightfall, when they stopped to eat and rest for the night, the others blinking in surprise at the stack of papers the blond Turk pulled out to study for awhile before turning in for the night. And that day largely set the pattern for their travels for the next several weeks as they walked and waited on ships to take them places.

FoWD

It had been a month since the farce of a tournament, and Sirra had kept to her pattern for visiting the bars for that time. For the most part, she stuck to taking jobs which kept her in Sectors 2, 3, and 4, though often took guard and escort jobs in other areas, especially if it was one of her days to be at the other two bars. Usually, nothing much happened, but there was an occasional asshole who made a fuss or started a fight, and because she wanted to be able to _enjoy_ her drinks, her reaction was both swift and brutal. They didn't die, but they definitely ran, and often didn't return for several days—she'd earned a reputation as a free bouncer for any bar she was in at the time. And to think, her casting out troublemakers for her own purposes had led to that...

At Nightcap, things had never devolved enough to warrant her intervention, and she thought that had a lot to do with the asshole whose table she'd hijacked and what she'd done to him with such little effort. She'd honestly never had anything but enjoyable drinks there, Fuhito aside. Speaking of _that_ fucker, though, over the course of the month, she'd been able to note some patterns to his behaviors.

The first was that he tended to stop at the door and scan the room. If someone who was completely new to Nightcap was there when he got there, he'd back out and stay out of sight until the person left. She'd never been in that category to him—she was more notable for her absence than her presence. If it was just the regulars he was used to seeing, or someone who had become one after a couple weeks (one of the guys had started bringing along his fifteen-year-old son), he would walk in and pause to talk with the barkeeper for a minute. From there, three out of five times, he went downstairs, one out of five, he went upstairs, and one out of five, he left again with about a fifty-fifty chance of returning later or not. At least, that was as close as she could assess with her two days on, two days off pattern, and from a few comments from the barkeeper.

About two weeks ago, he had started either staying at the bar for a drink—always only one, of medium strength by a Wutain's standards—or coming back up or down for one after whatever meeting he'd just gone to. It was always only one drink during the night, and never enough to dull his perception of what was going on around him, only just enough to let him relax a little. Drinking tended to make him calm when it was just the one, and she wasn't sure she wanted to see what would happen if he drank enough to get drunk—in her experience, calm drinkers went berserk when they got drunk. It was becoming normal to see him at the bar for half an hour or an hour most nights she was there.

However, that night, two unknown men had come in and sat down beside Fuhito, obviously for some sort of meeting, since he wasn't at all surprised when they struck up a discussion with him. By the barkeeper's pained, harried expression, it was an illegal dealing—which didn't surprise her in the least—but she wasn't sure over what. The likelihood of it being a drug of some sort was high, just because nearly anything else would have been too hard to hide from her trained eye. When a third man, one of the regulars, sauntered over and tried to muscle in on the deal, the other two men got alarmed, snatched the money, left the goods, and ran.

The regular had obviously had a bit too much to drink, and got pissed off when the other two guys left and Fuhito wasn't going to give him any of the product. When the noise level rose due to the man shouting in anger and the barkeeper was trying to get the regular to let Fuhito go, she decided it was too noisy and time for her to intervene. Of course, her doing so also gave her another point to use for Fuhito to just ignore her presence, so it was a double benefit.

She rose, stalked over to the men—and noted how an eerily calm Fuhito had dropped a strange gun into his hand—and seized the yelling man by his collar as she cut off his yelling with one of her own: "_Shut the fuck up_!" Her snarl reached every corner of the room and made everyone freeze to stare at her in shock as she literally hauled the man away from Fuhito, dragged him to the door, and effectively drop-kicked him outside. He landed flat on his face, and just to be sure he got the picture, she activated her Fire Materia to scorch his ass (literally) and send him running (or drunkenly staggering, more like) down the street with an agonized scream.

"Asshole," she muttered, turning to look at Fuhito, then at his gun pointedly as she asked, "You gonna put that away, or do I need to kick _you_ out too, just to get some peace around here?" She could see the package of drugs in his other hand, but summarily dismissed it as irrelevant to her.

He gave a faint smile and put the gun away, saying as he did, "I intended it only for self defense if he had actually tried to do me bodily harm. As it turned out, you took care of the problem for me, so I have no need to use it."

She nodded and returned to her seat, relaxing back, kicking her feet up onto the table, taking a gulp of her drink, then closing her eyes—or what anyone else would have thought of as her closing them. In reality, she kept them open slightly so she could see what Fuhito did next. First, he pocketed the drug (which she thought was a Mako-based one), then turned to the barkeeper for a discussion for a few minutes. What he did after that was what shocked her, because he got up from his seat and, instead of leaving or going up or down, he made his way to her table. By then, the normal sound level of the bar had picked up again, largely covering the sound of his softly approaching footsteps.

When he rapped his knuckles gently on the table, she opened her eyes to give him a flat, blank look and asked, "What?"

"Mind if I join you?" he asked genially.

"Why?" she blinked. This was definitely not something she had expected.

"You're obviously powerful and skilled. I may have work for you, if you're interested?" he replied, and she blinked again before dropping her feet to the floor and motioning to the seat across from her. Oddly, his compliment had only sounded like he was stating a fact, not like he was trying to get in her good books or stroke her ego.

"I'm a merc. Work's always good to hear about," she told him. "But I may not do it."

He gave his hand a dismissing wave and said, "Depending on how things go, some later tasks I may have for you have potential of being things you wouldn't want to do. I don't think you'll have issue with things largely amounting to escorts or deliveries here in Midgar."

Tipping her head to the side, she asked pragmatically, "So why ask me directly instead of going to the merc office and making a formal request? It'd be faster."

"A month ago, it may have been," he replied. "Now that I've personally found someone I'd like to ask, it's both more expedient and more beneficial to you to take the work directly from me. Did you know the bounty offices actually take twenty percent of the mission fee from you as their pay?"

Sirra tipped her head to the side and said, "Yeah, I knew that, but never really thought much of it. Why?"

"Getting the task from me directly means you get the total amount, without the twenty percent skimming," he clarified. "And if you're willing, since you're a regular here, I can give you a task any time I happen to see you."

Thinking about that for a minute—and what it would mean for how the asshole viewed her—she gave a small nod and said, "So, deliveries and escorts. What kind of time have I got to get them done in?"

"That's dependent on the situation. On a rare occasion, I may give you a task and need it done the same night. Most of them would be ones you could do the following morning as you go about your business. An escort would usually be scheduled for the following morning, assuming all's going according to plan. If an item needs a specific delivery time, I'll give you that instruction when I ask you to do it, and make sure to give you sufficient time to get there. Obviously, what I would pay you would be at least twenty percent higher than the bounty office offers, and if something's especially sensitive, I'll pay you more than that. If you prove reliable, I'll give you your pay up front, but for the first few, you'll get it at your destination."

She was surprised by how much it sounded like a normal agreement any random merc and potential repeated client would make. She eyed him for a moment, then asked, "What's the catch?" His brow rose, so she pointed with her chin at the pocket he'd put the packet of drugs in. "I know _that's_ illegal. Am I going to have to keep away from city patrols and shit, or am I going to be carrying clean goods?"

His brow rose. "Are you asking to know what you're carrying?"

"No, I'm asking to know its status, asshole," she replied with a sneer, then blinked in surprise as he chuckled.

"Fair enough, I suppose," he admitted. "If you need to be cautious with something because it's either questionable or illegal, I'll let you know. Normally, that shouldn't be the case—I mostly take care of those myself. I won't say it won't happen, though, because in about two weeks' time, there's something I'll need you to move for me, but is most definitely illegal. Is that sufficient?"

For a few long moments, Sirra just sat staring at him, tapping a finger on the tabletop as she thought. On the up-side, he was giving her direct access to him, and the sooner she proved reliable—and trustworthy—the sooner she could off the bastard. In the meantime, however, that would mean helping him enact his plans to harm Midgar and the people in it. The decision wasn't easy, but the one thing which pushed her in favor of doing it was the simple fact that, the sooner she could kill him, the sooner his plans in general would come to a screeching halt.

Finally, she met his gaze and nodded, saying, "It sounds all right. When do you want me to start?"

The smile he gave was borderline creepy as he said, "I have something for you to deliver in the morning, but you'll have to wait here for about an hour while I prep it for delivery—it's got glass in it and needs some padding. Do you mind the wait?"

She waved him off and replied, "I'm usually here until closing time. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here."

He nodded and rose, then left the bar quickly with something akin to a 'spring in his step'. Her agreement had definitely pleased him. And now she would have to meet up with Ruluf again, too...

FoWD

For the last month, Ed had been going out with Yufi, Shelke, and some other random person—Genesis, Tseng, Kariya, Doriss, or any random assortment of Guards—to explore, both in the Shinra building and out in the city. It was getting easier to do, and he was sure Elicia was helping a lot with his ability to do so. To that point, it had been about twice per week, normally with no less than two days between outings, and it had been helping him feel a lot better, a lot more like his old self. He was even starting to adapt to the presences of people like Rude, Freyra, Ruluf, and Illis. That morning, however, he'd heard a commotion in the apartment next door—Kariya's—before Percia had joined him for the day, which was a first.

Since it was one of the days Yufi and Shelke had decided they were going to drag him outside, he and Percia were sitting on a 'park bench' at the edge of a park with fake grass around a sandbox and some play structures for children while Yufi and Shelke played there with a few other children. Elicia was playing in some flowers nearby, making nearly everyone snicker—it was obvious she liked the bright colors of the flower petals.

His thoughts were interrupted by Minerva saying into his mind, _:My Ancient Sentinel, I believe you should speak with my Earthen Champion about visiting me at my core now. It would be beneficial were she to arrive there with my Beloved Child, my Budling, and the Dynamism.:_

_:Is there a reason you need her to do this just now?:_ he asked in reply, confused to have gotten a request for something which previously had no timeline.

_:As things move forward, a purification will be needed. I need to be able to discuss with her what she wishes to do before either Zirconaide or her merged form with Zirconaide will be needed,:_ Minerva replied in a plain and practical tone of voice. _:She will have no time to make the decision or ask questions before the time comes should she not visit with me soon.:_

Knowing Minerva's version of 'soon' was different from his, and all humans', he gave agreement and turned to look at Percia. "Do you remember when Nina called you 'Big Sister Gaia' and we had to clarify that Minerva calls you her 'Earthen Champion'?"

"I remember asking what it meant that I somehow 'protect the Planet'," Percia replied in dry amusement. "Are you going to explain that now?"

"It's more like I'm playing messenger," he answered with a faint shrug. "She wants to talk with you about it herself, be able to answer your questions, and there's a decision you'll need to make which she doesn't want to force you to rush to make. Apparently, our group of travelers—the ones with Verde—are eventually going to head in the direction of her core, the place where it's easiest for her to talk with others. She's decided you need to know now so you can make plans with Lady Shinra's help to go meet them by the time they'll be heading there."

Percia blinked, then asked, "And the location?"

"Banora," he replied, shrugging.

"...So we need to tell this to Lady Shinra so she can arrange for me to be with them. Is there even a viable reason for me to need to join them? People would be suspicious if I just joined them long enough for that," she pointed out, and Ed was reminded of Elfé and Felicia for a moment.

Giving his head a shake, he informed her, "All you have to do is mention my name to Lady Shinra and she'll go with it. As for a reason for you to go with them...It would be beneficial for both you and them to go to the Northern Crater with them, as well as to several other areas where there isn't a lot of foot traffic. Because I'm sure they're going to need to go to the Crater to terminate the root problem they're trying to stop."

"...Okay...Are you always so cryptic in your reasoning?" she asked in bemusement.

"Cryptic...?" Ed muttered, then sighed. "I guess I am, somewhat, after everything I've been through. But if you go into the Crater where Jenova was taken out from, that whole area needs to be cleansed of her energy, and the Cave below that also reaches right down to her core. She has a limited number of people she's okay letting in there, and because of what you've always been to her, you're one of them. If you see her first at Banora, she can explain things to you, then you'll have from then until you get to her core in the Northern Cave to think of questions or other things you want to discuss. Also, fighting your way there will definitely improve your strength and skill."

"Hmm..." the young woman murmured thoughtfully. She was silent for a minute before saying, "Okay, I'll talk to Lady Shinra, then."


	67. 65-Explosive Reminder

Explosive Reminder

About a week after Ed had talked with Percia about going to Banora, she informed him that she actually had a valid reason to end up there. Both President and Lady Shinra had suspicions that Hollander, who had been fired with the introduction of Deepground, had returned to his lab there and was doing, by extension, illegal experiments. Of course, the President assumed those would be for the purpose of working against him, so one of the Hounds would be sent with her, but Lady Shinra was more of the opinion that he was simply going freelance. That also allowed for the option of him working with Fuhito, and someone needed to find out what he was up to. She was being sent later that week, with Lakis.

Incidentally, the same day she was leaving was one of Ed's outings with Yufi, Shelke, and someone else approved to be with him (Kariya that day). After a few very mild winter days (which meant there wasn't much snow around), the weather was nice and no one had to deal with any snowfall or slush. It was also the same day Lady Shinra had one of her rare meetings away from the Shinra building, though the client in question was reliable in meeting her at a restaurant with private rooms which was in Sector 8 and not too far from LOVELESS Avenue. The only reason Ed knew which one it was happened to be because it was also right across the street from the clothing shop they had gone to, and they had seen her and Vincent go inside.

Even though Ed was good wearing virtually anything by then, he was starting to recover, and that meant going out more, also to places where more formal attire was needed. To date, they'd kept it mostly to casual or semi-formal locations, but there was no guarantee he would never get invited (or dragged) to a more formal place—Genesis, Rufus, and Sephiroth all frequented such places, and there had been twice when Rufus had been his minder with Yufi and Shelke. Both times, Rufus' venue had not turned out overly well, because while both girls were pretty much ignored in their respective uniforms (Yufi in either the Turk or Academy one, and Shelke in the Academy one), Ed had no such thing.

Both girls and Elicia were having fun looking around the shop while Kariya helped Ed find some nice clothes and get them tailored right in the shop. Several times, the girls had returned to Kariya with bits of jewelry from the women's section of the shop, and he had to remind them they were there for clothes, not jewelry. The attendant helping the girls found those exchanges highly amusing, and the one working with Ed clearly did as well, though she kept it hidden better.

Elicia didn't ask for anything, mostly just admiring things, but Ed decided she needed a red bow for her neck when he saw her beside the shimmering ribbon while she looked through them. That had amused both shopkeepers _and_ Kariya. It still took around three hours to find a few things for Ed and have them tailored, and by then, both Yufi and Shelke had each picked a nice dress—and Shelke had managed to plead her father into buying one particular piece of jewelry for her. While the clothing all went into bags, Shelke's new pendant and Elicia's new bow were put on right away, making both very, very happy.

As it turned out, they were leaving around the same time Lady Shinra and Vincent were, and paused to watch them get in the car (limousine, actually) with Carbuncle. The limo pulled into traffic as the small group headed leisurely in the direction of the Shinra building—only for everyone to instinctively flinch and duck as an explosion sounded. Sirens started blaring, and everyone could hear something burning, so rose to find the source. It only took a moment to realize one particular vehicle had been reduced to a scorched frame, everything flammable in it burning, as several cars around it had taken damage. Elicia was stiff on his shoulder, eyes wide and shocked, but by the twitching of her ears, she was probably sending data back to Lucrecia and Reeve.

"That's Lady Shinra's car!" Kariya gasped after a moment.

Ed blinked as Yufi and Shelke nodded to each other and jumped out into the street, where traffic had stopped completely, quickly getting to the limo, where Shelke began using Ice to put out the fires while Yufi started looking for a way in. She found a place near the back door on one side, then used her combat star to wrench it open, still having some trouble with the fire. She called both their names, and apparently heard something under all the noise, because she pushed her way into what was left of the back of the vehicle.

By then, Kariya had led Ed and Elicia to the limo and had joined Yufi to try to clear more space while Shelke was trying to get the fires out. The problem was the open gas tank—it would keep burning until it had no more gas to burn. Her use of a fuel car rather than a Mako one surprised him a great deal, but oddly, that fact may have been what saved her life just now (and Carbuncle, of course, who had been sent into recovery).

He gave a faint sigh and told Shelke, "The gas tank is open and burning—that's why the fires can't go out. If you can put the gas and the fire burning it directly into stasis, you should have an easier time getting the rest out."

"Where do I aim?" she asked, still working.

Well, _that_ was an interesting reply. It strongly implied she _already knew_ how to put an elemental property into stasis. Shaking that off, he told her, "Usually, under the car, near the middle. Sometimes it'll be closer to the front or the back, but usually the middle-ish."

"'Kay, thanks," she agreed, then her brow furrowed. A moment later, some of the worst fires around the bottom of the limo went out, and soon after, as she was getting the rest under control, Kariya helped pull Vincent from the vehicle. The man was carrying Lady Shinra in his arms, and Yufi followed them. Both Lady Shinra and Vincent had some pretty serious burns, and Yufi had gotten some while trying to get the other two out. Even Kariya had some on his hands as he'd tried to work with the heated metal to open space.

The woman was unconscious and struggling to breathe, so Ed moved forward and knelt beside Kariya and opposite Vincent, making both look at him in surprise. "All of you are hurt, but she needs the fumes cleared from her lungs first," he explained. "There's no Materia spell capable of doing that." Their eyes widened in alarm, so he held a hand up in a 'wait' motion. "I can. But I can't do it while healing other injuries, and depending on how bad it is, I may not be able to do anything else—it's possible I'll use up all my energy on this."

"Do it," Vincent said without hesitation.

Nodding, Ed held a hand close to the woman's chest and closed his eyes to pull on the arrays and sub-arrays he needed. He knew what kind of light show it would produce, but there was nothing for it—she couldn't be left, the fumes needed to be cleansed from her system. It had been work for him to learn this particular set of arrays, but his reason for having done so always made him shudder—every time Sephiroth became 'the Nightmare', he invariably burned some town or other to the ground. Yes, many of them didn't have time to die of asphyxiation due to fumes because they died from sword slashes or blood loss instead, but about half of them died from asphyxiation.

While working out these arrays had been both difficult and painful, the number of people whose lives it had saved since had more than made up for it, and now, he was using it to save Lady Shinra. He activated it and let it run its course; while the initial activation didn't take much energy, he needed to _keep_ feeding it energy until it finished cleaning things up. With how delicate the lungs were (only the eyes and brain were more delicate), it took time to clean them up, even using magic. Holding a spell for even thirty seconds took a massive amount of energy, and the only thing he could be thankful for was that the duration of this spell changed depending on the person's needs.

However, when he had passed the thirty second mark, he began to question what had gotten into her lungs to require more than a standard fire fume victim would. Then, it passed to a minute, and he frowned faintly as he said quietly, "Check the car for something toxic..."

The presence beside him—Kariya, he remembered—rose and moved away, and he kept working, hoping now that his energy would hold out long enough to clear her lungs. Vaguely, he heard Elicia give a worried, wordless whine. At nearly two minutes, when he really only had a few dregs of energy left, the casting finally stopped, and he sagged to the ground, nearly unconscious from exhaustion, as Elicia jumped from his shoulder. He registered Vincent whispering in relief, "Thank Bahamut!"

A hand rested on his head as Lady Shinra said softly, in a raw, rough voice, "Thank you, Edward..."

"I can heal some of the worst of everyone's injuries, but I already used a lot of energy to put out the fires," Shelke offered, sounding subdued.

"Save it for _those_ two," Yufi called over, obviously at a bit of a distance, and her voice muffled.

"Yes, some of the worst," Vincent agreed. "Don't go overboard—we already have two people we can't move easily."

"Sure," Shelke agreed, and Ed guessed both Vincent and Lady Shinra got some healing for some of the worst burns.

And he realized he was hovering. It was the same sensation as when he'd heard Veld's name that one time, where he should have been unconscious, and he sure couldn't see anything or move, but he was still aware of his surroundings and could hear what was going on. The sensation was never pleasant, and he wondered if it was a variant of being comatose. At least he knew he'd managed to clear Lady Shinra's lungs of whatever had harmed them so badly.

Then he heard Vincent say, "Yes, the explosion was Lady Shinra's limousine, though we managed to get out in time, and there was some help nearby—Kariya, Ed, and the girls. Lady Shinra can't move on her own right now, and Ed's unconscious, maybe comatose. Can you get us a lift back to Shinra Headquarters and prep the Hospital Wing for us?" A pause followed, then he said, "That will help. I don't think there were other injuries, just property damage. It was obviously targeted to Lady Shinra." Ed realized he had to be talking on his PHS. After a second pause, the man breathed in relief, "Thanks. We're at—"

Ed tuned out the location Vincent recited in favor of trying to work out what kind of poison could have rooted so strongly in her lungs so quickly, and came up blank. There was no drug or poison capable of doing such a thing so quickly. Well, he supposed mustard gas could, but that would have been agonizing and shown very real signs of burning, rather than just poisoning. No, this didn't make sense, like he was missing something. And it felt like it was something important.

He heard Vincent ask, "Did you find anything, Kariya, Yufi?" and turned his attention to the reply. Around then, he also felt Elicia curl up against his chest.

"This," Kariya answered, obviously showing something to the other man. "Activates with heat and all. Only problem is, by itself, it's pretty much harmless."

"Then why are you showing it to me?" Vincent asked in confusion. "If it didn't cause the problem—"

"That's not what I said," Kariya replied in a dry tone.

Yufi cut in with, "It's a two-parter. Lady Shinra had to've been breathing in the other part for a long time for the fumes from this one to have mixed with them so quickly and caused intense poisoning. Weirder still is that Vincent's still almost always with her, but nothing affected him. If it was in the air—which it has to be—and they're almost always breathing the same air, how did the fumes not affect him?"

"...How long would it take to get this result?" Vincent asked tersely.

"Depending on frequency and length of exposure, it could have been as short as two weeks or as long as two months. Less than two weeks and the results would have been much reduced, but more than two months and the first round of fumes would just start dissipating, also leaving much more mild reaction," Kariya explained. "I'd guess around a month, but again, the question becomes when and how? We got a lift, by the way?"

"Lazard is going to get Eonna and a few SOLDIERs to retrieve us in a chopper," Vincent replied, heaving a deep, tired sigh. "This was a close call..."

No one answered him, and various emergency personnel began arriving just then to help clean up the mess. It was only when the helicopter arrived that Ed felt his mind let go and let him fall into blank darkness.

FoWD

He woke suddenly and sat up sharply, incidentally tossing Elicia onto his bed with a shocked yelp. Right then, however, he was more focused on trying to force back the reaction to the nightmare he'd just been having. Nightmare? Right...It was reliving a memory, a very bad one. He had so much fodder for 'nightmares' in his own memory that he rarely had an actual nightmare with elements to it which he'd never experienced personally before.

Admittedly, though...even though he recognized all of the pieces to this one, it had actually been partially a real nightmare, because one part of it had been the Nightmare burning Lady Shinra to death. The other part had been the agony he'd actually felt, and his death in that dimension, when the Nightmare had burnt _him_ to death. Few things were more painful or prolonged than that. It became more haunting and horrifying by the accurate recollection he had of Sephiroth having laughed as he burned, and that had been in both dream scenarios.

At least he knew the reason for this one—the incident on the street. Since it looked like he was in his own room, everyone had felt it best he wake somewhere familiar and non-threatening. Elicia climbed onto his shoulder and started purring as she rubbed her head against his cheek repeatedly, and he found it helping to calm him. He hadn't been in a full-on panic this time, but he hadn't been all that far off...and he had a sudden desire to eat fish. At first, that threw him, as he had no idea why he'd pick that instead of his only remaining sweet treat which had no bad memories attached.

Then, he remembered being part cat and part crane, both creatures which ate fish.

Damn, he hadn't even realized how much fish he'd been eating lately, or asking to eat when he had been given a choice.

The door to Kariya's room opened, making him look up, still wide-eyed and breathing hard as he tried to banish images and memory pains of the flames from his mind. Rather than Kariya, the one who stood there was Doctor Crescent. She took one look at him and asked, "Need a hand? I can give you a mild tranquilizer—standard medicine for high-strung emotion."

He gave his head a shake, then closed his eyes and leaned his head on Elicia's side, letting the small body's purring vibrate straight into his head. Purring wasn't something he'd previously thought of as a calming factor, but it worked wonders. If he had the capacity to purr in hybrid form, did that mean he'd be able to calm himself down if Elicia wasn't there? That aside, her purring, her furry little presence, helped a whole lot in pulling him down from the panic and horror of the nightmare. The phantom pains were the worst, though.

Several minutes later, he opened his eyes again, seeing how she had sat beside him on the bed in the meantime. When she met his gaze, she smiled and said, "It's good to see you able to handle it yourself. Well, with a little help." At the last, she nodded at Elicia, who had settled on his shoulder and was just sitting still now as she purred.

"Where's Kariya?" he asked cautiously.

"All of them except Shelke are in the Hospital Wing with burns," she replied. "I expect Kariya and Yufi to be released today—you slept for around thirty-six hours. Vincent and Lady Shinra will need more time. I can't thank you enough for what you did for her, clearing out her lungs—we'd never have been able to finish the process of fixing her without that. We're still trying to work out how she was poisoned but Vincent wasn't, but for now, she'll recover. Do you know who would have done that?"

"It's more a question of who had the access," he told her dryly. She blinked in surprise, so he clarified, "The only people who have such access to her are SOLDIERs, Turks, and now Deepground."

"...This was another of their attempts on her life," the woman assessed flatly.

"We don't have proof, but I think so," he agreed. "But this is a first. Usually, there's a limit to their capacity for discretion, but this time, they seem to be just as capable of underhanded plotting as the President and Lady Shinra herself."

Lucrecia's brow rose and she asked, "You're putting Lady Shinra in the same category as her husband?"

"In this, she is, she just does it for the right reasons," Ed replied in a dry tone. "She wouldn't still be alive if she couldn't see most of his plots for what they are, and even put into place her own retaliation and safeguards. That doesn't make it bad—it's a skill like any other, and how a person chooses to use it defines the person, not the skill. It's still generally cunning, or underhanded plotting."

Lucrecia had to laugh at the words, but then she sighed faintly. "We managed to get all of you back here without issue, including the bags you had with you. All of those bags are here right now, since you were the only one going home right away. As I said, I'm expecting Kariya and Yufi to be ready to return today. In the meantime, how soon can you summon back Carbuncle? While we have a couple Turks guarding Lady Shinra's room, Deepground obviously has ways to bypass them."

Closing his eyes and reaching for Carbuncle's arrays, Ed found they were accessible again, so pulled on them and sent it directly to 'wherever Lady Shinra was' so it could appear there. He felt the form solidify in approximately the correct direction from him to indicate the Hospital Wing, so opened his eyes to meet the Doctor's gaze again. "I just sent it back to her. As for how long it took Carbuncle to recover, I'm not sure, but I don't think it reached a usable state very long ago."

With a nod, Lucrecia agreed, "Likely not, though I would really just have to take your word for it. Thank you again." She then motioned at the shiny, red ribbon around Elicia's neck and asked, "What's that?"

"A pretty bow for a pretty girl," he replied in amusement, and Elicia chirped happily, making Lucrecia blink slowly at the small robot.

"I had no idea she could make a sound like that..." the woman blinked. "Did she _need_ a bow?"

"I felt like getting her one," Ed shrugged. "And because she's an AI, she can learn almost anything. That was just her 'wordlessly' mimicking how Shelke chirps when she talks." Elicia nodded at the words, affirming them.

"...Well, I'll be damned. I'm never going to underestimate the Cait Siths again," the woman said reverently. She then gave her head a shake and asked, "Do you want me to stay here until Kariya and Yufi return?"

"Um...Just let Tifa know I'm awake so she can feed me, and I think we're all good until they come back," he answered with a small, wry smile. "And tell her I want something with fish in it."

"Fish?" the woman blinked.

"Cat and crane comfort food," he replied, that time actually feeling amused, and she chuckled.

"I'll do that, then. In the meantime, all you need to do is rest. I'm still working on what to do to fix some of the other issues your body is still having, but I'm also not especially rushing those. We'll get there—they don't need to be done tomorrow."

"Why is that?" he asked curiously.

"Because in the scope of what was wrong with your body, the biggest things causing you the most harm are now as fixed as we can make them," she answered plainly. "While the rest will still need to be addressed, the relative harm they do to you is miniscule, and your body—and mind—is in a much better place now than it was. The smaller issues are going to be largely delicate and isolated, so it's actually better to not rush them now that your body isn't on the verge of breaking down. Is there something in particular you want me to focus on first?"

"Uhm...Was there anything else affecting my mental ability or my emotions?" he asked cautiously.

"Anything causing you pain—even pain you no longer notice—affects those things through stress," she pointed out dryly.

"I mean a more direct impact on them," he returned in mild annoyance.

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "I believe there was one issue tied to your sight which somehow ended up following an incorrect route through your brain. If I remember the test results correctly, those were crossing right through a section of the brain controlling focus. Should I work on that, then?"

"Probably, if there's a way to fix that," he agreed. "I want my own mind back, fully and properly."

With a nod, Lucrecia agreed, "I'll focus the next phase of therapy on that aspect, then." She rose and turned to go. "Try to stay in bed, or at least largely in one place, today, all right? You're still recovering the energy you used, so you still need the rest. Tomorrow, you should be able to go back to normal, with only a little tiredness and minimal weightedness of limbs. Tifa will be here soon with something for you to eat."

"Okay, thanks," he agreed, laying back down as she left, even as she was pulling her PHS out of her pocket.

"...She didn't ask about my nightmare," he realized in mild surprise as Elicia shifted to curl against the side of his neck, her fur tickling his ear.

"It was pretty obvious what it was about and why you had it just now. They'd have been more surprised if you _hadn't_ had one," she answered in amusement.

"Smarty-pants," he replied in vague amusement, closing his eyes to rest again.

He only realized he'd fallen back asleep when he felt Tifa shake him awake to give him his meal. She looked vaguely amused, and even Ansha—waiting at the door to the room—seemed amused by how quickly he'd fallen back into sleep.


	68. 66-Kidnapping?

Kidnapping?

It only took a week for things to go back to normal. Soon after Lady Shinra was released from the hospital, she visited Ed at Kariya's to show him what she had of a map so far of the places the Jenova Crystals had been. Since the group was keeping below Shinra's radar, travel was slowed by either leisure (which no one begrudged them, especially knowing Nina was with them) or by the necessary waits for transportation. That translated to fewer points over more time than Ed had hoped for, but it wasn't all bad. He still couldn't tell what was wrong with the pattern, but was thankful they were getting rid of the Jenova Crystals.

On Percia's end, she and Lakis had needed that whole week just to _find_ Hollander, let alone start observing him. Apparently the cave system under Banora was larger than Ed had realized, and while there was a—very small—route from Hollander's cave to the one where Minerva's core was, he had never known about the other portion of the cave. In truth, he'd never had a reason to track it down, because Hollander was so very rarely a factor in anything Ed was involved in. Not directly, at least. And when he was, that either happened at Nibelheim or in the Shinra building. He was just glad Percia and Lakis still got along, despite Percia's faction switch.

Yufi and Shelke tried very hard to get him to go out on his regular schedule, even after Lady Shinra's limo was bombed, but their first attempt was a bust—he wasn't able to bring himself to step out Kariya's apartment door. The man finally told the girls to go play, and they could try again in a few days to get Ed to go out again. The second attempt worked marginally, but he only made it as far as the training floors before having to go back.

Finally, everyone hoping the third time was the charm, they got him to go out again. It was a week and a half after he'd woken, and that time, he felt a lot better about going out, though it almost seemed like Minerva was hovering worriedly in the background. To him, that meant something was about to happen, something she wasn't sure about, but had definite potential to go bad. Even though they were able to go out into the city that day, he was rather displeased about getting his feet wet in the new round of slush they'd gotten while he'd been stuck in his apartment, and was still wary and cautious.

Apparently, that wasn't enough, as a strong hand seized his arm as they passed an alley. Before he had time to blink, Elicia was knocked to the ground with a yelp and he was dragged away by someone with definite enhancements, someone who handled him like he weighed nothing. It was definitely no fun being carried over someone's shoulder, though. The man was quick to jump to the rooftops, crossing several very quickly, then dropping back to the ground. Several times, the man alternated between crossing sections of the city on the rooftops and on the ground—most of the places he went up and down were the ones the Turks used.

Then, he landed in an alley and stopped. Ed was lifted off his shoulder and put on his feet on the ground—and for the first time, Ed realized he was looking at Veld. Before he could process more than that, the man had seized his arm and pulled him to a door in the alley wall, where he was then dragged inside...a restaurant? One of the staff members saw the Restrictor and said the private room he'd wanted was ready, and to let them know with the alarm by the door when they wanted service. Veld agreed, then led Ed up a flight of stairs and onto a hall with many doors; not long after, they were in a private room tastefully designed and with a fair-sized table and six chairs.

Veld pushed him at the table and said, "Sit down. We have to talk."

"Do we?" Ed asked cautiously, not moving from where he was. It was hard not to fall into panic, and Elicia's presence would really have helped. He knew why Veld had tossed her to the ground, though—it was obvious she was a monitoring device, and anything that happened here would then have been recorded. So, he had to calm himself entirely on his own. All he could really manage just then was to work to regulate his breathing.

"No matter how I think about it, there's _no_ reason you'd have known my name," Veld answered. "You're not allied to the President, and I don't see you ever having been. You were never slated to be a Restrictor, and I can't see any future where that would have happened. You aren't one of the originals or I'd know you, recognize something about you. The President denied wanting you trained for the roll, and affirmed he'd never told you my name. There are too many questions surrounding you, and I need answers."

"...So why haven't you taken me to Reactor Zero to _force_ me to give you what you want to know?" Ed asked, feeling off-balance. He still didn't move, but that time, it was more for fear of falling over if he did.

"Because _I_ want those answers, not the President or my fellow Restrictors," Veld answered bluntly.

_What?_

The words were shocking on several levels, and Ed knew he stumbled as he finally made his way to the table and sat. It was in the chair to the side of the head of the table. To his surprise, Veld sat across from him, gaze intent as he watched the younger man. This was completely _not_ the way Restrictors behaved. This was completely _not_ the way _Veld_ behaved. In the past, he had never _cared_ what knowledge Ed did or didn't have. For a few long minutes, the two just stared at one another, but then Veld did something _else_ Ed had never seen before—

He took off his helmet and mask.

The man beneath the mask had medium brown hair cut short and hard, chiseled features, and looked like he was in his forties, maybe early fifties. His face alone had several scars—it was likely his body was no different. His eyes were brown, sharp, calculating...but also apprehensive. While he had a bit of a mustache and small sideburns, he was otherwise clean-shaven, with no particularly notable features. For a long time, Ed just met his gaze, feeling like the end of the world should come just now, then, when the world didn't end, turned to look around the room again, instead. Veld's gaze without his mask was shockingly intense.

Most of the colors in the room were warm browns, blue, and green. Over the window, covering it completely, were thick, green curtains (no one would be able to see them from outside), and most of the edging and borders of the room were green. The walls were a pale brown not far off the color of sand, but the table and chairs were medium brown wood. Place mats in blue with green leafy borders were at each of the seats while the chair cushions were the opposite—green with blue leafy borders. The floor was medium brown wood with a blue rug under the table. The room was well-lit, but the lighting was soft so there was no eye strain.

Finally, he returned his gaze to Veld, who had just waited patiently for him to finish his assessment of the room. Their gazes met for a long moment again before Ed finally sighed and said, "I may not be able to answer everything you ask, but I can answer a few things..." It was a wary agreement due to his knowledge of what was likely to happen if he didn't answer or if Veld didn't like the answer he gave.

Apparently, Veld realized where his thoughts had gone, and gave him a distinctly annoyed look as he said flatly, "I didn't bring you to a public restaurant to torture you. If you can't answer something, or can't answer it honestly, then don't. Just don't lie to me about it."

Ed blinked, then blinked again as he processed the words. Once he had, he sighed faintly again and agreed, "Okay." Did Veld really mean he wasn't going to hurt him? It was true the restaurant was elitist and well-designed, but now that he thought about it, there wasn't a huge amount of sound-proofing there—enough to keep ordinary loudness of discussion from being more than an unintelligible mumble from outside, but not enough to keep a scream from being heard. By that, it seemed Veld really had no plans to hurt him. Which left him the question of how much he could say about any one topic, or how much he _should_ say.

"How do you know my name?" Veld asked. It was a completely expected question. It was also one of the few he could answer relatively easily.

"One time, when I was in Deepground, you and one of the other Restrictors tortured me. I should have been unconscious by the end, but instead my awareness hovered. I heard him call you Veld, and the leader of the Restrictors. That was actually the first time I realized what was different between your uniform and theirs, too," he explained.

"Those are your 'scenarios'?" the man questioned with a faint frown, and Ed nodded. Veld then braced his arms on the edge of the table and linked his hands. "Argento said you had Leviathan's Blessing, so I looked it up. However, what I found out was that, while there's a superficial similarity to it, whatever you have isn't the Blessing. One key factor in that is how things in your 'scenarios' wouldn't keep changing if it was. So, what do you _really_ have?"

Ed swallowed tightly and looked away, not sure if he'd even be able to answer. It only took a few moments for the older man to say, "Fine, you're obviously not able to answer just now. Why do you work so hard to save Lady Shinra?"

Blinking at the complete change of topic, he repeated the question in his own mind, then said quietly and bluntly, "Because she's not completely blind to things that don't directly relate to her own power, including things Shinra company is doing which will either destroy the company or the world. If it destroys the world, there _is_ no company. And she tries to fix what she can—all to keep Shinra in the position of 'top dog'."

Veld's eyes widened, then narrowed, but not in anger, in confusion. "What do you mean? She's working to take power _from_ Shinra."

Again, Ed wondered how to reply so the Restrictor would get it, but then he sighed and asked, "How did you manage to control everyone in Deepground to the point where the President felt comfortable letting them out so much sooner than he ever has before?"

The man frowned, this time in partial confusion and partial anger. "What does _that_ have to do with anything?"

Pausing for a minute, the blond formulated his thoughts, then said, "Any previous time I met Deepground, and the few I was in it, the only thing you had going for you was the control chips and fear. They were never loyal to you, and eliminated you the first chance they got. There was no loyalty because they had nothing to be loyal _to_, only a simmering rage under the fear, a rage and a desire to be free. Control can't be forced that way, and only lasts for so long. It was cold, cruel, painful, and the shortest route to insanity possible. What's different this time?"

When Veld's expression became thoughtful, Ed went on, "The President is a control freak. Very literally. He doesn't care _how_ he gets that control, as long as he gets it. He tends to go for expedient, but ultimately ineffective methods, like fear and torture, and covering up wrong-doing. Those things all leak out and turn people against him and the company, causing his control to slip, and in turn causing him to retaliate by creating more fear and pain. You can only hide so much, and people will only take so much, before they'll snap and hit back."

He paused to cross his arms and rest his elbows on the table, gathering his thoughts again. Finally, he went on, "Lady Shinra does things to make people _like_ her, and to like Shinra. She'll put herself, her people, her money, and her control out for something if it means she can effectively regain it by having people like and respect her. She reads people, and sees when she can't push through something the people won't like, because ultimately, a leader can't lead without people. Pushing people away by doing things they don't like or want, or killing them because they don't agree with you, causes a collapse of power. She realizes that, and adapts to situations so people will keep letting her have that power. Without her, Shinra would be holding onto his power by the skin of his teeth right now. But, her doing those things which keep him in power mean she's going against what he wants to dictate, so he wants her eliminated."

Veld eyed him for a very long moment before blinking in surprise, but then he just gave a small nod. "That doesn't explain your apparent rejection of things like SOLDIER and Deepground itself."

"Combat forces are needed, but Turks are the proof that the extreme experiments in Deepground and the less extreme SOLDIER ones _aren't_," Ed replied. "Those are harmful to people, whether it's through agony and high likelihood of death or through putting a parasite's cells into a person's body so the parasite has a new playground. And the sheer amount of agony Shinra company has caused the Planet and the people on it is marching it very neatly—and rather quickly—to its doom. The President even _knows_ the Reactors are, quite literally, killing the Planet, but he doesn't bother to find another way because that's too much effort he doesn't want to put in, money he doesn't want to 'waste'."

"How do you know that?" Veld frowned in confusion.

"You seriously need to spend more time in the Shinra archives, looking up data," Ed replied dryly. "He's got all the reports and records there—he's just chosen to ignore them. While you're doing that, you can look up things like how prone he is to lying, betrayal, and ignoring planetary cycles, like Chaos and Omega Theory. The last, you could even ask Doctor Crescent about."

"Isn't that a myth?" the older man asked, even more puzzled.

"If it's a myth, how is Vincent housing Chaos?" Ed asked in reply, and Veld's eyes widened in shock.

"That's right, his records, the shapeshifting..." the man murmured. He was quiet for long moments before asking, "And Jenova, since that's what I assume you mean when you say 'parasite'?"

"This world collectively has next to no grasp of actual scientific theory," Ed told the man bluntly. "Most scientists, Hojo included, don't know the difference between a product and a by-product, or between a parasite and a symbiont. The ones who have the most grasp of it are Grimoire Valentine, who's dead, and Lucrecia Crescent, and neither realized all of what Jenova _was_. It didn't help that she was mis-labeled as a Cetra when she's not one. Hojo _knows_ she's not one now, though. Those records should be in the hidden basement Lab in Shinra Manor in Nibelheim, along with a bunch of false data deliberately kept there to lead people in the wrong direction."

Again, Veld was silent for a long time, then asked, "And if you know so much, does that mean you know where the Promised Land is?"

Ed's lips quirked in something very much like a small smirk as he said, "Death."

"I beg your pardon?" Veld asked, obviously not sure he'd heard right.

"Do some research on the Cetra and the way they lived their lives. Then take into account that they were fully aware they came from the Lifestream when they were born, and went back to it when they died. To them, coming to the end of their journey and returning to the Promised Land would be what?" Ed asked him shrewdly. "Of course, since the Lifestream is the energy form of Mako, that would be why there's an association between mass amounts of Mako and the Promised Land. But, you can't 'get to it' unless you die, so what's the point? It's not _for_ the living."

The man sat back and stared at the blond across from him for a long time, just stared. Finally, he gave something like a faint sigh and asked, going back to the second question he'd asked, "Since you don't have Leviathan's Blessing, what _do_ you have?"

Again, Ed hesitated, then decided to go for broke and sighed. "Dimensions." At the older man's puzzled frown, he elaborated, "Every time I die in one dimension, one version of this world, I land in another. Those versions differ by people having made different decisions, or different events having happened, or different outcomes came from those events. This is the first one where Lady Shinra has been alive, and it's also the one I've found in the best position to fix things since the first one. I can't remember a version of this world which didn't end up destroyed, but...this one might survive. If the President doesn't get to destroy it. Or Fuhito. Or Jenova."

A silence followed, then the man said, "I have a lot to think about. I may have more questions, so I'll call the waiters to bring us food and drinks while I'm working out what, or if, there's anything else I need, or want, to question now."

Ed nodded—it wasn't like he had a choice—and Veld got up to push on the white button near the door, sitting at about the place a doorbell would have. He returned to the table, and soon after, a waiter came in with menus for them, asking if he should return in about five minutes or wait there to take their orders. Ed solved the problem by asking what they had with fish in it, and suddenly felt like he should add, "And no onions." Veld looked highly amused by the words, but said nothing as the waiter assured him any dish could be prepared without onions at his request, then listed and briefly described their fish options. By the time Ed had decided on one, and a drink, Veld was also ready to order.

After the waiter told them it would be about half an hour, the young man left, and Veld and Ed were alone again. The older man asked, "Is that your metamorphose form talking?"

"Probably," Ed admitted in vague amusement. "I hadn't even noticed it before about a week or a week and a half ago."

He shrugged and admitted, "Most people who have another form tend to react to it instinctively in some small ways. One of those is often a preference in food. It's a running joke in Deepground. For you, we'd say, 'Your cat is showing.'"

Ed couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the phrase. "You really have jokes in Deepground this time? That's _definitely_ new."

"It got boring without them," Veld replied. "We've had to be very quiet about most of what we've done, otherwise Lady Shinra would have noticed, so we didn't get to release tension by sending members out on raids and things. I'm beginning to wonder if it wouldn't have been better for her to have found out."

"_That's_ definitely a first," the blond replied dryly.

"You're getting a lot of firsts in this one, aren't you?" Veld asked in reply, and Ed blinked at the similarity to the very thing he heard from the Guards all the time.

"You wouldn't be the first to comment on that," he said after a moment.

They fell silent until the waiter returned with their food, then ate in silence as well, but somehow, Ed didn't feel threatened or awkward. It was strange to be sitting with the man like this, but Veld had kept to his word and been non-threatening, even the one time he'd been angry for a short time. While he had always known Restrictors were men of their word, that had never been applied in a benign situation, so he'd also never actively realized that they would keep their word if they swore _off_ harming someone. He'd been fearing the changes in Deepground would be bad ones, but now he wasn't so sure that was the case—Lady Shinra's continued presence and power had actually put things in a better place overall.

As they were finishing up, Veld asked him suddenly, "How many dimensions? How long have you been doing this?"

"...Kariya asked the same thing once," Ed answered quietly. "I don't have an exact number, but...It's been over a hundred dimensions and spanned over three hundred years. This is the first one which has a real chance to not end in destruction, and the only notable difference..."

"Is Lady Shinra," Veld finished, and the younger man nodded. He then sighed and said, "If you're done, let's go pay for this—I'll cover it—and I'll return you to the Shinra building." It didn't take long for them to do exactly that, though Veld left him at the doors and went off on his own.

Carefully, Ed stepped inside—only to jump in surprise as a familiar voice called, "Edward!" It didn't take long to find Verdot, who was striding towards him rapidly, even as he pulled out his PHS. "Come on, I'll get you to Lady Shinra's office," he told the blond, catching his elbow and pulling him to the elevator. As he did, he held his phone to his ear, and moments later said, "I found him, I'm showing him to your office now." He then hung up and pulled Ed into the elevator.

"Um..." Ed began warily.

Verdot faced him and looked him up and down, eyes sharp. "You don't seem injured. Doctor Crescent will still want to have a look at you to make sure, but otherwise, the rest can wait until you're safely in Lady Shinra and Vincent's care."

Clearly, talking wasn't something Verdot was encouraging just then, so a very nervous Ed waited quietly as the elevator rose, and let the older man lead him to Lady Shinra's office. Rufus, Lady Shinra, Vincent, Lucrecia, Carbuncle...and Elicia were all there, waiting for him. It only took a moment for a trembling Elicia to jump into his arms, making a sound like she was crying as she did, and for the first time, in a reversal of rolls, _he_ had to calm _her_ down. Everyone waited quietly for her to calm, only taking the time to make sure he ended up sitting in one of the chairs across the desk from Lady Shinra.

Finally, when he looked up at the woman, she said, "I want Doctor Crescent to do a quick check to make sure you're unharmed."

"I probably only have a few bruises from when he carried me over his shoulder, if that after this long," Ed answered cautiously.

"That," the woman said in a shrewd tone. "Elicia took a single snapshot of a Restrictor seizing you. How did you get away?"

"Uh..." the blond blinked, assessing her words for what she was assuming. "I thought I might have to, or wait for rescue...But he...kinda took me to dinner and asked me some questions I don't think anyone but you has ever asked before."

There was a pause as everyone's heads tipped to the side and their eyes crossed, then they reverted to normal as Rufus asked warily, "Was that a romancing 'taking you to dinner'?"

Again, Ed blinked, then chuckled and said, "If it was, it was a very strange way of doing so. I really think all he wanted was a private place away from everyone to ask those questions, and since he picked a restaurant, it would have been too strange, and too notable, if we hadn't had anything to eat. I've never had a Restrictor, or anyone from Deepground for that matter, ask those kinds of questions before."

"Like?" Vincent asked curiously.

"Why I keep protecting Lady Shinra," Ed said, making them blink in alarm. "Why I don't agree with Deepground, or theoretically with SOLDIER. What's wrong with the Reactors, and the fact that the President is willfully killing the Planet. I don't know what will come of it, but if he had the drive to research Leviathan's Blessing—and to realize by extension that I don't have it—he may actually look into what I said."

After a silence, Lady Shinra sighed and nodded. "We'll wait and see what happens, then. In the meantime, you and Lucrecia can use my antechamber to see how you're doing. Of course, we know bruising won't be visible, given the state of your blood, so I apologize in advance if any pain comes of it. Hopefully, the others we sent out looking for you after you were kidnapped will be back by the time you're done. I sincerely hope this doesn't happen again."

"I think we can all say we hope for that," Verdot replied. "I'm sure the President knows about this, so should we play it that someone else kidnapped Ed and it was the Restrictor who found him and returned him to the building on the premise that Shinra's business stays within Shinra?"

"If he knows, feel free. If the Restrictor took Edward's words seriously, that would give him a cover so no one would know he was the one who did the kidnapping," Lady Shinra agreed. "If it turns out Marius doesn't know, then don't say anything."

"Fair enough. I have to report back to the office before I can head home for the day, so if we're done here, I'll head out," Verdot agreed.

The others nodded, so he left, and Lucrecia led Ed and Elicia to the antechamber. Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to do her examination, and when they stepped back out into the office, Kariya, Doriss, and the two girls were there, both girls hugging him tightly as soon as they saw him. Kariya and Doriss also hugged him, then led him back to his apartment, where he fell into bed and immediately fell into sleep.


	69. 67-Forced Hand

Forced Hand

About a week after Ed had been kidnapped (and somehow safely returned) by a Restrictor (he'd never clarified which one, now that he thought about it), Verdot got a call from building security. Answering it as Tseng walked in with a few folders to place on his desk, he motioned the Wutain to wait as he asked, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Sir, an Infantry patrol reported back to us with survivors from...they called it a raid? It happened in the Sector Four Slums, where a fair group of masked Wutains attacked a store. Could you send someone from your department to get records of the incident?" the man on the other end of the line asked. "We're in the secure rooms on the main floor."

"Are the people—the survivors—still there?" he asked sharply.

"They are, though we sent three to the Hospital Wing to have their injuries taken care of," the man explained.

Verdot sighed heavily and agreed, "I'll be there soon with one of my people. I want to speak with them directly, as well as collecting what you've recorded of the incident."

"Of course, Sir. We'll see you soon," the man agreed, then hung up.

Hanging up his own PHS, Verdot rose and told the Wutain waiting patiently for him to finish the discussion, "It seems a group of Wutains attacked a store in the Slums. Come with me so we can ask the survivors some questions of our own, Tseng."

Tseng's eyes widened and he sounded a little winded as he agreed, "Of course, Sir." He followed as the man led the way from the office, told the others they were dealing with fallout from a violent crime in the slums, and headed for the elevator.

It didn't take long for them to get to the secure rooms on the first floor, where several Troopers and building security were milling around, some looking shaken or upset—most of those were the Troopers. To their surprise, they also saw a deeply frowning Stroud as he held a device in one shaking hand, and there was a bleeding cut on his cheek.

"Stroud?" Verdot asked apprehensively.

The blond fourteen-year-old looked up at them, then said, "They tortured the ones sent to the hospital. It would have been worse if I hadn't..." He paused, then shook his head, eyes closed tightly. "The Infantry helped, but they were no match. The only reason the Wutains fled was because it was obvious the Troopers were calling for backup as they were arriving." His eyes opened again as he looked up at them. "I don't...I can't...deal with this right now...That's why I said they should call you."

Approaching the younger Turk, Verdot rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "We'll take your report upstairs later. For now, go get your injuries taken care of. We'll deal with this." Slowly, the youth nodded, then rose and trudged away, heading for the elevator.

"Worse and worse," Tseng said tensely, and Verdot nodded.

"I should probably talk with the people who were at the store when it happened, if you want to speak with the Troopers?" the older man asked. Tseng paused for a moment, then nodded slowly. "I'll also speak with the ones in the Hospital Wing if any are fit for such a thing by the time we're done here."

"That's probably for the best, unless there's something you need me to clarify," the younger Wutain agreed.

The next few hours were spent collecting and reviewing the data building security had already compiled and questioning the people who had been involved. It looked decidedly grim, but the only one who could give them a real, definitive answer was Stroud. They didn't even know why he had been there yet, but it seemed he'd killed more than one of the Wutains. They weren't yet clear on how many, though they knew two had definitely been amongst those torturing civilians. Since it was also the first time Stroud had killed people, it was bound to be weighing on him on several levels. Finally, they had finished up and were able to return to the office, where Stroud was staring blankly out the window, Cissnei gazing at him worriedly as her arm rested around his shoulders.

Verdot approached him and said quietly, "Stroud, your report on the situation is the last one we need. Let's step into my office."

"He needs time—" Cissnei began, gaze pained.

"He'll get it once we know the whole story," Tseng cut her off. "But we can't wait on this, not with how dire all the other reports were. Once it's done, he also won't need to revisit it on our behalf, so he'll actually _have_ time to recover. And all of our support."

Yufi suddenly burst into the room, making everyone turn to stare, and pulled Shelke into it behind her. They both looked like they'd been in a fight, Shelke close to tears, and Yufi planted herself in front of Verdot as she said, "You need to tell the President to put in martial law, because I think those traitors are done waiting! Not if they'd attack me and Shelke—and they were trying to take Shelke!"

"I beg your pardon?" Verdot asked in surprise, a sinking feeling coming over him.

"Because I have SND, and magic," Shelke began, huffing as she started crying quietly. "They can't get past Security without someone who can change the codes for them, and when I was using my magic to put out the fires burning Lady Shinra's car, they knew I could use that to help them, too. If Yufi hadn't been there..."

Emma quickly joined the girls, pulling Shelke into her arms to hug her tightly. "I don't like this," Emma said quietly, only just loud enough to be heard above Shelke's quiet tears. "An attack on a store for supplies...And trying to kidnap a young girl...both on the same day..."

"Then, you need my report, so you can hand everything you need to the President," Stroud said quietly, gaze pained as he looked at Shelke for a moment. "And Shelke needs a better guard. Yufi did fantastically this time, but now that they know what they're dealing with, they'll go for overkill next time they try."

"One thing before we get to that," Verdot agreed, then looked at Yufi. "Were they aware of who you were, and did they make a determined attempt to harm or kill you?"

"_All_ of Crescent Unit know who I am, by name and on sight," Yufi replied bluntly, tugging on the lapel of her Turk uniform. "And they had the gall to call _me_ a traitor because I'm wearing this uniform. They tried to hurt _and_ kill me. Since they only sent two guys, though, and you've been teaching me to handle more than one attacker, and Shelke could do things like blind or confuse them, we could get away."

Tseng reacted by pulling her into a tight hug as soon as she finished speaking, eyes closed and expression pained. Verdot eyed the two Wutains for a long moment, then faced Stroud and said, "Let's step into my office, Stroud. I don't think Tseng will be able to detach himself from Yufi for awhile." Stroud nodded and followed him into his office. Once they were seated and Verdot had the paperwork in front of him to make notes, he told the blond, "Now, start from the beginning and explain what happened."

Drawing in a deep breath, Stroud pulled the device from his pocket and set it on the desk. "That's one of the variants of the alert system we've been testing. I keep it on me when I go out, and Balto asked me to pick up a few things from that store for him so he could use them this evening, during his shift. Since it's a wide-ranging general store and I had nothing else to do, I agreed and headed down. While I was looking for the last thing he'd asked for, the alarms on my device suddenly started going off, and I immediately yelled for everyone to take cover."

He paused and squeezed his eyes shut. "If I hadn't, we all would have pretty much been in front of a firing squad as they used their gunlances to shoot through the front window of the store. A few people died...A few got hit without dying. There was a hand-full of lucky people who got out the back before a few of the masked Wutains came in from there to block it. The rest came in the front. Most of the survivors were by the till and checkout, but a few of the Wutains thought it would be...fun, I guess, if they made some of the ones they'd shot—the ones who were still alive—scream."

Looking up at Verdot with a helpless expression, Stroud went on, "The woman nearest me, she was blond...I remember my mind flashing momentarily to my mother, and I knew when the man lifted her skirt...I couldn't let that happen. I don't...have a clear memory of having moved, but I know he'd already started...when my dagger was in my hand and I cut his throat, throwing him off her. And I remember looking for the next person screaming...That one was a man whose back was being cut with the gunlance blade repeatedly. I don't remember moving, but I remember stabbing him through the heart after he tried to attack me..."

The blond paused for a long minute, then went on in a blank tone which worried Verdot, "I found one more like the man, but she was a woman...Her attacker was a Wutain woman, though. I had to actually fight her, not just exchange a few blows. The last...The man had cut up her baby in front of her, and had cut her legs off. I killed him a lot like the first one because he wasn't paying attention, but...By the time I turned back to the woman, she'd found a knife off a nearby shelf and used it to kill herself. I...think I just blanked after that...I sort of remember fighting a few others...then them running...the Troopers arriving. They were taking just anything they could grab, food, utensils, towels, whatever. Some of the Troopers were killed, but a second unit was already coming up, so they didn't stay."

When Stroud stopped there, Verdot asked softly, "And how did awareness return to you?"

Stroud's shoulders shifted, but he said, "The woman I'd first saved came up behind me. I turned and attacked her before I knew who it was, but...thankfully the damage was minor, and my mind cleared. She and I both realized what had happened to me, and we both held each other and wept. By the time we stopped, transports had arrived so we could come back up here."

Sighing heavily, Verdot told him gently, "Stroud, I need you to take some time off, and to talk with Doctor Crescent about what to do next. Unlike most Hounds, I'm not blind to trauma, and you _need_ help. If she says you're still fit to work, but that you need to see someone about it, you can keep working on your project, but if she wants you to take time off, I need you to do so."

"But—" Stroud began, looking up in alarm.

"This is temporary, Stroud," Verdot told him voice still gentle. "A Turk's first kill is always the hardest, and you got dealt one of the worst hands you could have. It's not just about the people you killed, but what you witnessed, and what you did—had to do—just to come back down out of what was effectively a berserker state. If you want, tell this story to Vincent and Lady Shinra. You'll get the same response. We care about our fellow Turks and want to see you well. This is a thankless job, and getting you the care you need is one small thing we can do to make sure you stay with us for a long time to come. The sooner you abide the Doctor's requirements, the sooner you can get back to normal. Well, as close to normal as things will ever be for you now."

For a few long moments, Stroud was quiet, but then he sighed faintly and nodded. "I'll talk to Doctor Crescent, then."

Verdot rose and rounded the desk, stopping beside Stroud to grip his shoulder in one hand. "Take care of yourself. Now that you're part of our family, that's one of your top priorities."

Stroud gave a faint huff as some of the tension left him. "That's the same thing Vincent said when I first met him."

"So, do you feel so badly about this now?" the older man asked in faint amusement.

"...You're sure it's fine if I actually have to take time off work?"

"If that's what you need to recover, then say instead that I expect you to abide it, otherwise we risk losing you far too soon."

Nodding, Stroud slowly levered himself up, and to his surprise, Verdot gave him a hug. "Doctor Crescent should be on floor sixty-seven or sixty-eight right now. Head up while I handle what we need to do next." Stroud nodded into his chest, then pulled away, and the two left the office.

Both Cissnei and Emma were sitting on a desk, Shelke between them and their arms around her. The girl had mostly calmed down by then, and had decided to lean more heavily on Emma, leaving Cissnei to actively note their return to the main office. Tseng had moved to his desk, and Yufi was sitting on it facing him, her feet on his thighs and both of their hands held on her lap, the man's covering hers. They also looked largely calm, though by Yufi's expression, she was still upset by something—likely the reason for Tseng's attentiveness to her just then. Judet and Quis had come in, apparently noted the mood, and decided to quietly work on their reports while they waited for something to change.

"All right, everyone," he said, nudging Stroud in the direction of the door. The blond went as he added, "We have a problem, and I have a feeling martial law is going to be the response. How much it'll help in these circumstances, I don't know, but we have to take it to President and Lady Shinra. Since they should be having a budgeting update meeting today, there's no better time. Tseng, Yufi, I'd like you to join me so you can share what you know about the behaviors and reasons of your countrymen. In the meantime, Cissnei, please take Shelke to Reeve's office and ask that Kariya join you there—if it's for his daughter, I'm sure he'll go. The rest of you, please stay here for a bit after your shift ends so I can speak with all the Hounds at once about what we're going to do from here on out."

By then, Stroud had left, and everyone else gave agreement to his words, though Cissnei asked, "What about Stroud?" as she dropped off the edge of the desk.

"I've sent him to Doctor Crescent for an assessment of what help he needs for several levels of mental trauma. Since she's one of the few who acknowledges that as a valid thing, she's also the only one who can help him at this point—and make no mistake, he needs it after what happened down there," Verdot answered gravely. "As much as I'd like you to be here for the Hounds' meeting, Cissnei, if no other guard has been assigned to Shelke by then, I'll be leaving that in your hands. I'll update you as soon as I can."

"Sure thing," she agreed, coaxing Shelke away from Emma and leading her out of the room, an arm around her shoulders.

Tseng had risen and set Yufi on her feet on the floor by then, so he motioned them to join him, and the three walked out of the room as well. In a rare display of a desire for comfort, Yufi walked quietly by Tseng's side, her hand in his, and they took their time. The elevator ride felt like both an eternity and the blink of an eye, and they made their way from the elevators to the President's office silently, making the secretaries on sixty-nine shiver and just stare at them as they passed. In the President's office, Vincent, Eonna, and Carbuncle were with Lady Shinra and two Restrictors were with the President. Both Shinras looked annoyed, but nothing worse.

"Sorry to interrupt your work," Verdot began, making everyone turn to look up at them in surprise. "Something, or rather two somethings, have happened recently which can't be ignored. You need to be informed and have to direct us in how to proceed."

The President frowned and said, "Janelle, you'll have to return later—"

"In this case, I believe you both need to hear this, President Shinra, Lady Shinra," Verdot cut the man off, causing nearly everyone in the room to stiffen as several pairs of eyes widened.

After a long silence, Marius sat back and said, "Very well, explain."

"Today, a store in the Sector Four Slums was attacked by a group of masked Wutains. They killed and tortured people—by the report from one of our Turks who was present, they did the latter 'for fun'—and stole any random goods they could from it before enough Infantry troops arrived to cause them to flee. They were notably using gunlances as weapons, not katanas, kunais, combat stars, or any other traditional Wutain weapons. Around the same time, two others fitting the same description attempted to kidnap Shelke Rui and torture and murder Yufi Kisaragi."

By the time he was done with the bare-bones, virtually everyone in the room had gone pale. "The Turk who witnessed this?" Lady Shinra suddenly asked, gaze pained.

"Our newest recruit, Stroud. He was there to retrieve a few items for Balto and witnessed the attack, as well as killing no less than four of the masked Wutains in defense of the civilians present," Verdot replied. "By his report, there was no mistaking the actions the attackers took—it was torture and murder for the sake of it."

"Verdot, do any forces outside the Wutain military use gunlances?" the President asked, voice tense and cold.

It was Tseng who replied, "No, though we have a report from an undercover agent in the Slums that it seems this is a splinter group from the Wutain military. It may be best to call Emperor Godo and ask him his take on this incident. Particularly given how they made an attempt on his daughter's life."

A long few moments of silence followed, then Marius pulled out his own PHS and found a number in it. As it dialed, he held it to his ear, and shortly after, he said into it, "Yes, you can. We seem to have had an incident here, and we need some input from you to deal with it." He then explained what had been offered to him. After a momentary silence, he said, "The Princess is unharmed. She's standing in my office just now." There was another more lengthy silence, then the President commented, "I believe that would be best. In that case, we'll handle them with any force we deem necessary." There was another pause, then his brow rose and he agreed, "I can do that. If that was all, it seems we all have work to return to. Another time, then." A moment later, he hung up.

The President's gaze went to Tseng as he said, "Godo asked that I tell you 'Since they've shown themselves, feel free to retaliate.' I won't guess at whatever double meaning that has for you, but _we_ most certainly will be." His gaze moved to Lady Shinra as he said, "Since all our best efforts have largely only kept them out of specific areas, not led us to them, we can't target them so easily. This is something the Turks have been working on for months. That leaves us martial law."

With a heavy sigh, the woman replied, "I can't deny that. Not now. What we need is a system of ID which allows registered citizens to go about their lives normally while allowing us to track people, especially of Wutain origin, who have no such identification. Since those Wutains who work here, and who have lived in the city for some time, are all registered, we can grant them valid ID without issue. It's Wutains who aren't yet registered who we need to be wary of. And this may also be exactly what we need to track AVALANCHE, hopefully before they bomb another portion of the city."

"In that case," the President replied with a frown, sitting back again. "We know this is indeed a group which has broken off from Wutai. They have their own goals, and our well-being isn't included. I suspect Wutai's well-being isn't either."

"It's not," Yufi piped up, still clutching Tseng's hand. All eyes went to her. "They'd never have attacked me to kill me if they wanted anything good for Wutai."

"That's true," Tseng agreed quietly. "And, it's also highly likely these are the same ones who tortured my family to death nearly ten years ago now. These are repeated behaviors for them, all of them exceedingly violent and largely unnecessary. Since they've left Wutai, my best guess is that they want to establish a new Empire, with the people in Shinra lands as their slaves and torture subjects. The only reason they would do that is ultimately if they plan to overthrow Wutai as it is, but Godo has proven more durable than that. Hence why Godo won't support them. If they _did_ try to retreat to Wutai _now_, as traitors, he would unceremoniously have them slaughtered."

"If they're so fanatical about it, _can_ we defeat them?" Eonna asked apprehensively.

"If Ed is to be believed, even without Deepground, only a quarter of our current forces are capable of defeating the forces they have here," Tseng answered, and many pairs of eyes widened again. "Our combat power isn't the question, because we trump them, extensively. The problem is more in finding them and preventing further attacks like they just enacted—insidious plots which undermine our people and power structure. Since they aren't taking the route of open attack yet, we need other forms of management."

"Additionally, while Troopers add numbers, they're largely disadvantaged in dealing with Wutain combat forces, and these are their elite military forces," Verdot added. "It wouldn't be advantageous to have the Infantry working on maintaining martial law, other than perhaps in low-danger zones. While Turks may be capable of enforcing it, that would undermine our ability to investigate matters and manage things in the background as needed. That would leave Deepground and SOLDIER. Even then, with the missions both are needed to fulfill, only certain numbers can be allocated to enforcement."

"We should have sufficient enforcement ability with the regular Deepground members and the SOLDIER Thirds taking most such shifts," the President replied, and Lady Shinra was quick to cover a relieved look. "Some Seconds in high danger areas would make management easier. Depending on the rotation schedules we arrange, it would allow both groups to still work on their normal tasks when not scheduled for enforcement. Turks can be kept for dealing with specific incidences, and otherwise do their own necessary work. Those away on assigned tasks already won't be included in shift cycles until they return."

"In that case, the Turks should start working out ID tracking codes with Urban Development," Lady Shinra said. "I believe our best for that purpose are Derin and Eonna." Both Vincent and Verdot nodded agreement.

"That means we need to get some of the implementation plans in place before we make an urgent announcement—perhaps the announcement should be released in the morning?" the President asked, gaze on Lady Shinra. She nodded, and he said, "I'll have to work out the primary speech this evening as well, then. It's likely reporters will ask you for your reasons to support me, Janelle."

"I would think something was wrong with the general population if they didn't," she replied in a dry tone. "I'll be ready to justify this move."

They then turned their attention to plans, calling people to the office as they were needed, or leaving to see to tasks. By morning, the system was functional, though not yet complete or fine-tuned, and it would take a couple weeks to finish that. The President gave his speech about enacting martial law, Lady Shinra beside him in her wheelchair the whole time. While the Turks realized it annoyed her for him to cite the car bombing which had nearly killed her as one of his justifications, she otherwise showed no reaction to it. When asked if she supported this move, and her reasons for doing so, she pointedly replied that the people they were dealing with had gotten under their wire once too often, then asked back to the crowd what else they could do to protect the citizens. No one had an answer, so resistance to enforcing martial law died.

Wariness, however, did not, and Lady Shinra wasn't the only one to notice that.


	70. 68-All Paths Leading

All Paths Leading...

"Oh, Shiva...What are they _doing_ to Midgar?" Percia sighed as she stared down at the announcement on her PHS.

"What?" Lakis asked from his place at the desk, where he'd been going over data until she'd spoken. He was now looking over his shoulder at her in confusion.

"I get regular news updates from Midgar," Percia answered, holding up her PHS. "Want to hear the President's most recent speech?"

Lakis blinked, then agreed, "It seems that would be prudent."

Pulling off the earphone she'd been using, the younger Turk detached it from the device so its included sound system would take over, then played the video clip with the volume maxed. The President's voice filled the room. _"In these past months, the citizens of Midgar have suffered several attacks, beginning with the major bombing of Sectors Five and Six, a following more minor bombing in Sector Six, a direct attack on my wife, Janelle, and just yesterday, two more near-simultaneous attacks. Those destroyed a Sector Four shop with a fairly high death toll, and nearly resulted in the injury or death of Princess Yufi Kisaragi, who has been living here since our new agreement with Emperor Godo._

"_With the repeated harm to our people and our enemies' ability to hide in the shadows like cowards, we now have only one last avenue to protect everything we hold dear. We need more ability to monitor routes, record unapproved arrivals, and to have enough forces near at hand to intervene to reduce the death toll and damage. It is with a heavy heart that I announce today our need to enact martial law in Midgar, to be upheld by SOLDIER and Deepground forces, with support as needed from the Turks and Infantry. Preliminary plans are in place, and forces will begin taking shifts this afternoon. I ask everyone to please report to the Shinra building to verify your residency, and obtain valid ID if you don't already have such assigned to you, within the next two weeks, when the system will be fully implemented. Questions?"_

After some clamoring, a reporter asked, _"Lady Shinra, do you truly agree with this decision?"_

"_I do, and am working hard with my husband to implement something which will hopefully do very little to change our honest citizens' lives, despite the increased military presence. Again, I encourage everyone to be sure your residency, citizenship, and identification are in order during the next two weeks. We'll have additional staff on hand to handle the influx,"_ the woman replied.

Another reporter then asked, _"Why do you think taking our rights away is a valid course of action, Lady Shinra?"_

The woman's reply made Lakis blink in surprise, _"You misunderstand. We aren't trying to take away your rights—we'd have gone so far as imposing curfew and simply forcing an ID on you which we want you to have if we were. For the vast majority of you, only this visit to the Shinra building will be different from here on out, and our security forces will actively ask to see your ID at certain checkpoints in the city. They always had the right to ask; now we're enforcing it. In the meantime, our people are dying needless deaths, some even being tortured, and these enemies obviously don't care if they kill children or civilians. Have any of you another option to offer us, given how our forces have already done all they can to find our attackers through other means?"_

There was no reply to that, and a few more questions and answers passed before the news clip stopped and Percia looked up to meet Lakis' shocked gaze. "Well," he began, then paused before saying, "I daresay this must be serious if Lady Shinra's going along with her husband regarding such a move."

"Really helpful, Lakis. Really," Percia replied to him in annoyance, and he chuckled.

"We're not _there_, Percia," he told her dryly. "Being aware of what we'll be returning to is useful, but we can't _do_ anything from here. Let's go check on Hollander again in the meantime."

With a faint sigh, Percia nodded and put her PHS away, rising to join Lakis. Generally, unless there was something in particular they wanted to observe, they spent about an hour at intervals during the day (usually three or four) observing him and his lab. They had seen him visit Gillian Hewley at her home more than once, but had also noted how those hadn't seemed like pleasant discussions. Because those visits were infrequent, they had decided not to question the woman about them yet, and had kept their focus on the man. By going to his lab just then, they weren't far off their usual schedule, maybe about half an hour early for their noon-ish observation.

However, when they arrived, the place was empty—even most of the equipment and boxes were gone.

"What the—?" Percia began with a confused frown.

After a long silence, Lakis drew in a sharp breath, then hissed and shattered the window, jumping quickly into the room to start scouring it. A shocked Percia followed him, wondering why he'd decided to announce himself in such a way. Then again, no one was coming, apparently...

"Lakis?" she asked apprehensively as something under the table caught her eye. She crouched to look at it, and the older man joined her. "That's a portable projector, isn't it?" she asked warily, hoping she was wrong.

"It is," he agreed tersely, then reached out and pulled it from its place, setting it on top of the table and quickly finding the function for it to play whatever was in its databanks.

The Lab suddenly looked used, lived in, and had an image of Hollander walking around and fiddling with things. The image didn't interact with them or acknowledge them, just kept going about its processes. Lakis stopped the play process, first as a pause which froze everything in place, then by shutting it down, which made everything vanish to be replaced with a nearly-empty lab. He then began cursing vividly.

When he finally stopped, he told Percia flatly, "We've been had. Start searching the facility for anything which may indicate how long it's been since he disappeared on us. Assuming the visits to Hewley were real, he has about a four-day start on us if I'm right. Also, see if there's any indication of where he went."

"Okay," she agreed, heading for the door out of the main lab room as Lakis began tearing into the few boxes and crates remaining in that room. The hall, as they knew, led to several other rooms for various experiments, to his actual living quarters, and to a stair leading down. A few of the rooms below were storage, the rest for more experiments, though most of those had been unused from the start with just him there. An elevator on that floor took a person down into the cave system under Banora. She thought it would be most prudent to begin with his living space, so headed there, first.

In the main room, she found that most of his personal belongings were gone, but the large pieces of furniture were there, along with some stray linens left askew. The kitchen space had also largely been cleared, though some dishes and utensils had been left, and nothing had been washed—there were still things like food splatters on the stove. Oddly, the emergency fire extinguisher had been taken from beside the stove. The bathroom had been cleared, though it also hadn't been cleaned, so signs of grime from use were all over the room.

In the bedroom, while a lot of things were missing, some clothes had been left behind, which were mostly fair weather types—all of the heavy, winter items were gone. That wasn't to say everything which was for good weather had been left—over half of that had disappeared. Also, while a few of the things left could have been because they were old and worn out (they notably were), the others were still in good shape, so there wouldn't have been a reason to leave them.

Leaving that room, she started going to each room in succession, only pausing to let Lakis know what rooms she'd checked. He then began going to the rooms she'd skipped. When she found boxes or crates which had been left behind, she opened them (crates usually by opening one side, not the top), finding largely empty ones. In one (it smelled a lot like bodily refuse and wet dog, unlike all the others), however, she found a live, starving Blood Taste, prompting a scream from her at the shock, and a responding whine from the monster. Oddly, it was black, rather than the red of normal hound-type monsters defined as Blood Tastes.

When she realized it was so starved it could barely move, she quickly searched for something she could feed it. A couple rooms down, she found what looked like dog kibble in a still-sealed bag (a half-full one was open already, but she didn't trust it), so took a bowl back to the monster and placed it just outside the box. Quickly, she also found some water and another bowl so she could set that beside the food. It was the scent of the water which prompted the Blood Taste to move forward, watching her warily. When she didn't stop it from drinking, or from eating, it did.

Lakis found her there, and just stared at the monster laying at her feet as it ate the last of what was in the food bowl. Both blinked as its tentacle wound around her leg. "Did you find anything?" he asked, and noted how the monster cringed.

"How long does it take to starve an animal to this point?" she asked.

"I'm not sure that's the right question, because starvation to that point generally takes months," Lakis replied. "Rather, did it go for the water or the food first?"

"Water," she answered, wondering what he meant.

"A person could die in three days without any source of liquid," Lakis informed her. "If it was given water, at least, before Hollander left, it would have been—barely—alive now. That would give us between three and four days. Otherwise, he seems to have been pretty thorough."

"I didn't quite get to all the rooms, but the one I found the food in had a few things in it. They didn't mean anything in particular to me, but it was the first room I found paper in. That's two down on this side of the hall. Should I give it more food?" she asked.

"Water," the older man answered as he turned back to the door.

"What?" she blinked.

"I don't think it can eat more right now without throwing it back up, but if it was so dehydrated, I think water would be the best thing to give it more of," he clarified, then left the room.

She blinked in surprise, then crouched to gently unwind the tentacle, producing a small whine from the monster again. Picking up the water bowl, she left to fill it, then returned and set the water bowl back where it had been. The monster lifted its head to look at the bowl, nose twitching, then looked up at her for a minute. When she just sat down about a foot away, it looked back at the bowl. After another minute, it shifted to reach it, and quickly began lapping up everything in the re-filled bowl. To her surprise, it left a very shallow layer of water in the bowl before settling down again, its tentacle wrapping around her nearest leg again.

And the smell was getting to her. Seriously, she felt sorry for the poor thing.

Both she and the Blood Taste jumped as something landed beside her, and she looked over to see some of the linens from the living area and a bar of soap. Lakis was just leaving the room as she looked up, but he quickly returned with a large basin filled with water, and used Fire Materia to heat the water. He then looked at her pointedly as he began stripping off his tie and suit jacket, tossing them over the edge of one of the empty crates. A light went off in her head and she also removed her tie and jacket, letting him take them so he could put them with his.

As he rolled up his sleeves, he asked, "Think you can get it into the water, or will I have to move it manually?"

"Um..." she blinked in surprise, then looked down at the creature trembling against her leg. "Well, let's see," she finally answered, unwinding the tentacle again and slowly moving to the basin.

The Blood Taste followed, but wouldn't step in the basin, so she put her hand in the water—and just left it there, the monster watching warily. After a few minutes, though, it tentatively put one paw in the water. With a little bit of a push on its rump from her other hand (which was a distinct 'ew' moment, given the state of the crate it had been in), it stepped fully into the water, trembling like a leaf. Lakis let it watch while he wet one of the cloths in the water, and as he lifted it to the monster's side, though that didn't stop the flinch. It was only as the Blood Taste realized it didn't hurt that it began relaxing.

After that, both Percia and Lakis were able to slowly wash it while it stood there quietly, and the smell of the soap helped the room smell not quite so bad. As they were finishing, the monster kept looking back at the two bowls, so Lakis said, "Go refill the bowls, and set them out in the hall. I'll finish rinsing off the soap."

"Right," she agreed, taking both to do so.

When she returned, she placed them outside the door against the opposite wall and where the monster would be able to see them. Lakis had put a hand at the base of its throat to stop it from moving forward, finished the last of the rinsing, then let it go. It took a few moments, but the Blood Taste began gradually making its way to the door, pausing at the opening, then moving into the hall to eat. That time, Percia sat beside it and gently petted it while it ate. Lakis then stepped out of the room with both of their ties and jackets, shutting it behind him. He tossed hers to her (startling the monster), then rolled his sleeves down and put his own tie and jacket back on.

As he was doing that, he said, "Well, the papers he left behind weren't helpful in knowing when he left or where he went, but they showed a few preliminary notes of a human experiment apparently called 'Ravens'. He took some J-cell samples with him when he left, and plans to use that in the 'Ravens'. There's no more I can tell, and our best guess about how long this place has been abandoned is between three and four days. We're going to need more time, and the hard part will be tracking him down."

"I wonder if he planed to head into a cold climate, because none of the winter clothes were left behind, but some of the summer ones were," Percia mused, still absently petting the monster beside her as it finished the new helping of water and food (in that order).

"That might be," Lakis agreed. "If the monster's done eating, do you think you can get it to follow you outside?"

"Are we taking it with us?" she asked in surprise, and Lakis gave a put-upon sigh.

"Seriously?" he asked her in annoyance. "_You're_ the one who started feeding the damned thing, who decided it needed help. Well, it's not going to _get_ it if we leave it here or send it out into the wilderness alone."

First, Percia blinked, then she snickered and admitted, "I guess so. Okay, I'll see how far I can get it to follow me. Should I refill the bowls and bring them along? Kind of like a gyshal on a stick?"

"Since it's so jumpy, it's probably worth a try," Lakis shrugged.

Nodding, Percia rose and picked up the bowls to refill them, the Blood Taste pretty much staying pressed to her leg the whole time, watching her curiously. As she and Lakis made their way out of the building, the monster followed, hesitating at the door—but when Percia was several steps ahead, it evidently realized she wasn't going to stop and started following again. At the small valley's (she wasn't completely sold on the space actually being a valley, though) entrance, the two paused to let the monster catch up, then kept going to the town. It was late afternoon by the time they could see their destination.

Soon after they got there, a white Bandersnatch seemed to appear beside the Blood Taste to 'woof' at it—and scared the shit out of the poor thing in the process. Percia felt like she knew the new monster, and Lakis was frowning as though trying to decide on a course of action. A moment later, it became moot, as a child's voice first asked, "Alexander? What did you find?" then gasped, "Ah! Poor doggy!" The brown haired, green eyed girl was suddenly hugging the trembling Blood Taste—and bands of green-white, sparkling energy were flowing around the two.

"Nina!" Percia gaped at the girl in shock.

Looking up, the girl saw her and grinned, "Big Sister Gaia!" As the green-white energy stopped (and the very confused monster shuffled around until Alexander licked the side of its neck), the girl detached from the Blood Taste and threw herself at Percia, hugging her around the waist with a big grin.

"...Really?" another voice asked in amusement, making the two Turks look up at Verde. "Dog-sitting?"

"I don't think _that_ qualifies as a pet right now," Lakis answered in a dry tone.

"Yeah, it _does_ look oddly emaciated for a pet," Verde agreed.

"Did you find them?" a young woman's voice asked from just around the nearby corner where Verde was standing, and Percia groaned as she held a hand to her face, suddenly thankful she'd stacked the bowls on top of one another.

"Aeris..._Really_, Verde?" the younger woman asked tiredly, and Lakis' brow rose into his hairline.

"Lady Shinra didn't tell you anything about our party?" Verde asked in mild surprise.

"Only that you and Zack were part of it," she answered with a sigh.

"Verde?" the young woman in question asked as she joined him at the corner, then paused to look at the others there. She then, rather blandly, said, "Oh, my." That just made Lakis' brow rise higher.

"That's all you have to say after showing yourself to a Hound, Miss Gainsborough?" the brown haired Turk asked in amusement.

To his surprise, the young woman grinned and replied, "You're outnumbered. Thank you for finding our Budling for us, though."

"I'm outnumbered?" Lakis repeated in confusion. "Zack is a Hound."

As the man in question also joined them, he put an arm around Aeris' shoulders and said, "Hound or not, I'm not about to turn my girlfriend over to the Science Department for experimentation." It was obvious by his response that he'd overheard due to his enhanced hearing. "By the way...Are we the only ones who found a totally crazy announcement from Midgar not long ago?"

"The one about marital law?" the brown haired Turk asked, his gaze suddenly tired.

"Oh, good, it's not just us," Zack grinned.

"So, the young lady's off-limits for the time being, and _we_ have a scientist to find. Why are _you_ here?" Lakis asked dryly.

"I have to talk with Minerva in a cave here," Percia put in, and Aeris smiled and nodded.

"Yay! We get to see the nice lady!" Nina cheered, finally letting go of Percia.

"We also have a couple of Jenova Crystals to find nearby," Aeris added. "And a trip to the abandoned Materia Mine north of here."

"Who's Minerva?" Lakis asked in confusion.

The others looked at him, then at one another, then back at him as Aeris said, "I guess you'll be finding out."

Two large cats with burning tail tips joined them just then, and Nina grinned, "Kitties!" as she threw herself on one of them to hug it. She only needed a moment to scramble onto the large cat's back and perch there, like she was riding a horse.

"Is that safe?" Lakis asked dryly, staring at Nina.

The cat smirked at him, then said in a very feminine voice, "Why wouldn't it be? We hardly mean harm to a child." It was obvious Lakis' brain broke at that, causing Aeris, Zack, and Verde to burst into snickers and laughter, even as Percia rubbed the back of her head.

"Now I've seen everything..." the young woman sighed.

"That, I'm not so sure about," Lakis replied, regaining his bearings. "Though, this ranks pretty high on the list of things you never expect to see." He paused for a minute as he gazed at the female whose back Nina was riding on (well, just 'sitting' on, since the cat wasn't moving), then asked directly, "And you two are who?"

Zack gave an impressed whistle as the one Nina wasn't on said, "How rare of a reaction," letting both Percia and Lakis know he was male. "We're from the Moto Tribe. I'm Nanaki. Since I've made it clear I don't like her climbing on me, she normally only climbs on Deneh, who doesn't actually care if she does or not."

Suddenly, the Blood Taste pressed against Percia's legs and whined, making everyone blink at it. Right then, she also realized whatever Nina had done to it had helped fill it out some, as its bones weren't as pronounced as they had been. She set down the food and water bowls she'd been carrying, moved the top one to the ground beside the other—and blinked as the monster dove right in. She guessed it wasn't really afraid of her anymore.

"I think, for tonight, we should just compare notes and make sure the Blood Taste isn't about to keel over and die on us," Lakis said suddenly with a sigh. "We have someone to question in town, and we both have reports to send before we can decide our next course of action. I don't think Hollander's disappearance will go over well, especially not if he's now working on a new human experiment. The 'Ravens' sound like trouble by what little we found."

"The Ravens are _Fuhito's_ project, though," Verde said, first puzzled—then everyone's eyes widened.

"_They're working together_," Lakis breathed. "Just like Verdot was worried about!"

"I'm not sure I grasp _why_, though," Percia said quietly, and the others blinked at her in a lack of comprehension. "Hollander's a renowned scientist who notably would have had other offers for work, and he's not likely to be someone else's lackey, otherwise he and Hojo would never have been at loggerheads. Why would he suddenly work with Fuhito?"

The others traded looks, then Deneh offered, "Revenge."

After a pause, Lakis said slowly, "Fuhito is definitely targeting Shinra Company first, and he notably doesn't tell people he's trying to annihilate the human race. And since being let go, Hollander's got reason to want to get back at Shinra, or even see it fall completely. If it let him keep experimenting...And Fuhito would appreciate the knowledge Hollander would be bringing to the project. He _knows_ he needs more power before he could take on Shinra."

"...Maybe we should call Lady Shinra and see if Ed knows where to look for Fuhito or Hollander or a new lab now that this has happened," Verde commented.

"For now, let's just go back to the inn," Lakis sighed, shaking his head. The others followed him.


	71. 69-Slipping Through Cracks

Slipping Through Cracks

Verdot was exhausted. That seemed to be a perpetual state for him lately, though. All he was doing was waiting for a report back from Anki and Reno, who he'd finally had an excuse to send to the other continent to check Nibelheim for wired explosives. While they had left several days ago, _finding_ something of that sort would always take the most time, especially the first time they went looking. In the meantime, he had work to do in the fine-tuning of the new martial law state, and had to repeatedly speak with the President or Lady Shinra to work it out.

He had also finally been able to ask Lady Shinra why she'd looked relieved that her husband had allocated SOLDIER Thirds, and some Seconds, to enforcement. After pondering her reasons for awhile, he realized he agreed with her that leaving it entirely to Deepground would also lead much more quickly to abuse of power. With the forces mixed, at the very least, they'd get back reports of inappropriate behavior, especially towards registered citizens. It also meant SOLDIER's power and position wasn't being undermined completely by the new unit, giving them the ability to stop abuses if they saw them.

And he'd just re-read the same paragraph for the fifth time, without grasping even two words of what was written in it. He sighed heavily, and Tseng's voice made him jump as the young man asked, "Maybe you should head home and let me take over the paperwork for awhile, Sir?"

The man blinked up at the worried-looking Wutain for a few moments, then smiled faintly and replied, "I'd be better served getting a prescription of sleeping pills before going back to my apartment today. Though, I might get you to handle a few things for me, because apparently, I can't process any more of those documents at the moment." He motioned at the half-inch thick stack directly in front of him, and Tseng smiled as he pulled the stack across the desk.

"I can do that. Do you want me to tell you what's in them before signing, in case something needs to be debated or clarified?" Tseng asked, sitting to start reading.

"I'll leave that to your better judgment, unless something has wording you're not sure about," Verdot answered, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes for a minute as he ran a mental checklist of things still in need of doing through his mind. It was a pretty long list still, but it had shortened since the last time he'd done it. And he still felt like something was missing.

A knock on the office door made him open his eyes and call, "Enter!" The door opened to reveal an annoyed Emma—and Ruluf behind her.

"This Guard says he needs to talk with you," the blond woman said with a scowl as she tipped her head to indicate the man behind her.

"Something from Lady Shinra?" Verdot asked of the man.

"From Sirra, actually," he replied casually. Verdot blinked in surprise, and he noted how both Tseng and Emma did as well.

"How is that?" he asked curiously, beckoning the two in. Emma stayed at the door after closing it as Ruluf moved over to stand in front of the desk.

"I'm her only contact in the Slums," he replied. "All of the data you've gotten about her, and about whatever she found out down there, came through me, though I normally just went to Lady Shinra, first, and let her pass word on. This time, it's a direct request from Sir to you."

Tseng's brow quirked, and Verdot's rose, at hearing Ruluf call her just 'Sir', rather than her whole code name. "All right. What did she need?"

"Is she supposed to 'report to the Shinra building to have her ID verified' for appearances' sake, or just stay where she is, since her ID _is_ valid?" Ruluf asked. "She wasn't happy about martial law being put in place, though. As long as it doesn't interfere with her work—both parts—she's not especially worried about it, but she was supposed to be avoiding the Upper Plate. That's why she needs to know what you want her to do."

Verdot blinked, then nodded and replied, "Her ID for her cover is new, offered after a ten-year absence. By the terms of what's being instated, she'll need to risk a trip here for verification, otherwise those who aren't in the know about her mission might assume it's a fake ID. I'll have to get Derin to create the appropriate paper trails, though you can assure her the cover will hold due to her previously having held citizenship here. Her best bet to slip under the wire of people who would recognize her will be tomorrow evening, between about six and closing time."

"Okay, thanks," Ruluf nodded. "I'll let her know so that can get taken care of."

"Anything else?" Verdot asked when the man didn't move.

He paused for a minute, then said, "She's lost ground on her mission now that martial law has been put in place, and she'll have to just keep to her patterns until Fuhito decides to show himself again. But, if she's right, the Wutains are hiding out at the same place he had based himself, and she's sure they have another way to get in and out. As a merc, she can't investigate, so I have to. Do you want me to report the results to you, to Lady Shinra, or to you both?"

Tseng and Emma blinked in surprise as Verdot gazed at him thoughtfully for a minute. Finally, he asked, "In your estimate by what you know of the situation, would you say Sirra's close to completing her mission, and it's just a matter of Fuhito's comfort zone re-establishing itself?"

"I believe so. She was really just waiting for him to drop his guard enough. How that will be affected upon his return, I don't know, and she can't guess," the Guard explained.

"He's Wutain," Tseng said before Verdot could answer. "And paranoid easily as much as the President or worse. If the place was raided before she could take him down, it's likely he wouldn't return to it."

Silence fell for a minute, then Verdot sighed and said, "In that case, Ruluf, you should probably report to both of us, but tell Lady Shinra we're currently in a holding pattern until Fuhito's elimination. If you can find out from Sirra when she plans to make her move, we may even be able to arrange a sting right on the tail of her mission completion, before the Wutains have a chance to flee."

"I'll do that, then. Thanks for your advice, Sir," Ruluf agreed, then gave a wave and left the room, even as Emma stepped aside to let him pass.

And then, his PHS rang, so he pulled it out and checked the number, even as he caught Tseng's amused expression. It was Reno, so he answered and asked, "What have you got to report?"

"We found the bombs," Reno answered bluntly. "They're on some kinda system leadin' to other ones, lots o' 'em. We can cut 'em off, but Anki said we actually need ta trick the system inta thinkin' they're all still wired. Big question is, where the Hellfire're we gonna find the wire we need without bein' noticed?"

"If you say it's a system, does that mean you can tell where the rest are?" Verdot asked in surprise.

"Not that close," he answered. "'N' if they all lead back ta Midgar, the wirin's only for this continent, and we'd find a wireless trigger somewhere. Our bet's Costa—closest point to Midgar an' the first ta go up in smoke. But if they're all like Nibelheim's, they're all gonna be in sewers 'n' caves under towns, which is major bad news fer up above. You _sure_ the President's behind this?"

With a heavy sigh, Verdot affirmed, "Yes, he's the one behind it. As for wire, you can borrow it from the Reactor. There should be a route right through underground from the Manor basement, and you'll be able to get what you need without being seen that way. For other towns...I'll send someone to you with supplies. Where do you plan to go next?"

"Up ta where they got the rocket. They might be fine, an' probably got more wire than they know what ta do with. It's places like Gongaga 'n' Corel we gotta worry about. Corel even _got_ underground space?"

"...They still have sewers," Verdot pointed out dryly.

"...Yeah. Ew..." Reno sighed, and he chuckled. "We'll let ya know when we're headin' back down ta Gongaga, then."

"All right. I'll have something prepared," Verdot agreed. Reno hung up, and Verdot sighed.

"I'm guessing those were both things that slipped through the cracks with all the paperwork?" Tseng asked in amusement, still working.

"They did. Did you need something, Emma?" the Director asked the woman, who was still standing by the door.

"I need my sister out of the Slums," she answered bluntly. "She lives in Sector Five. If they hit Sector Four, there's a good chance what's left in Five will be next. And even if she just went wherever, she could just be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Which is true of everywhere in the city just now," Verdot pointed out, and Emma's frown deepened.

"Okay, would it help if she said someone's been stalking her?"

The man blinked slowly as Tseng asked, "Are you using that phrasing because you plan to tell her to make such a claim, or because she's legitimately already done so?"

"She told me yesterday," Emma answered dryly. "But whoever's doing it is probably using some sort of Materia to cover their tracks, so she only actively realized it the day before martial law was declared. Maybe it's nothing, but..."

Verdot sighed and asked, "Is she at Shinra Academy right now?"

"In her last class today," the blond woman agreed.

"Go to the Academy office and ask if they have space to take a student in danger of bodily harm. If they do, register her, and catch her before she leaves today. Get the room established, and go with her to retrieve what she needs from down below, and get back up here as quickly as you can. If you feel you need help, ask a SOLDIER or two to meet you and make the trip with you. I'll have Doriss start checking with other students who live in the Slums to see if any others are also being followed, or have a suspicion they might be," Verdot informed her.

"Shouldn't you stop them _all_ from leaving today?" Tseng asked, his tone dry.

"I beg your pardon?" Verdot asked in mild surprise.

"If you send Emma and SOLDIERs to the Slums to clear her out, there's a good chance they'll just grab anyone else they're watching—tonight. Those students can't afford to go back to the Slums without guards," Tseng clarified. "Because my best guess is the Wutains targeting other students in the absence of Shelke."

Emma's eyes widened. "I'd be endangering everyone else they've got their eye on..."

With a sigh, Verdot rose and said, "Let's go down to the Academy, then, Emma. It looks like we have work to do, and plenty of SOLDIERs and Deepground members to appropriate for a sudden mission."

"Of course," she agreed, following him out.

The man then paused and went back to his office door to say, "Tseng, that means you're taking over mission allocation for the evening shift, since I have no idea when I'll be back." He then walked away, chuckling faintly as he heard the Wutain sigh, "Again?" behind him.

FoWD

There was a knock on the door, and the elderly woman opened it—only to see a little girl with brown hair in braided pigtails and green eyes, followed by a decidedly affectionate...Bandersnatch? "Hi!" the little girl greeted her. "The nice lady said I should talk to you. And that you like to make peach pie!" She then pulled a basket from a collar around the monster's neck and held it out to her with a grin. All of that, she wouldn't really have thought was strange (except for the Bandersnatch, and the fact that she didn't recognize the girl when she knew all the town's residents)...but it was rather late at night, and a girl her age would normally have been in bed at that time.

Slowly, she took the basket, flipping up the checkered cloth to see a basket of peaches. They were in good shape, so she asked, "Did you want me to make you a pie, Sweetie?"

"Nope! Those are for you!" she grinned, and the older woman found herself smiling in response. It was a little cold out, so she said, "You should head home before your parents worry about you or you catch cold."

"But I didn't get to talk to you yet," the girl pouted.

For a moment, she drew a blank, then she realized, "There's something in particular you need to ask me about?"

"Yup," the girl agreed.

With a faint sigh, she stepped back and said, "All right. At least come in so you don't catch a cold."

"Thanks!" the girl grinned, stepping inside, the Bandersnatch calmly following. She motioned the girl to the table, so the girl chose a seat, and the monster parked itself behind her chair. She then chirped, "I'm Nina, by the way!"

"Well, then, it's nice to meet you, Nina. I'm Gillian Hewley," the older woman answered in vague amusement as she put on tea.

"Hew-leeee," the girl repeated like she was puzzled. Then she said, "Big Brother Bear says his Com-an-der is Angel Hew-ley. Do you know him?"

First, the woman froze in shock, then began chuckling as she realized what the girl had just called her son. "Angeal is my son," she offered. "Did your 'Big Brother Bear' tell you how he's doing? I don't get nearly enough letters from him."

"I think he's okay?" Nina blinked. "We haven't been in Mid-gar in a long time, though. We've been traveling to find the bad crystals."

"...The 'bad' crystals?" Gillian asked in puzzled curiosity.

"The bad crystals. They hurt the nice lady. They hurt the Planet. So, we can fix the nice lady and the Planet if we find them," Nina explained.

"And that brought you to Banora?" she asked, checking the water for the tea. It would probably be done soon.

"Yup!" the girl grinned. Then her face fell and she added, "But Big Sister Gaia found a doggy that was so starved you could see all its bones! Poor doggy!"

For a moment, the woman froze, wondering if she wanted to know, to dig deeper. Finally, she asked, "Where was this dog found?"

"Here," the girl replied.

"...Where in Banora?" she asked slowly, eyes focused on the kettle.

And the answer she dreaded was exactly what the girl said, "At the Lab in the valley just past the town."

"...And what happened to him?" Gilian asked carefully, closing her eyes.

"Him who?" Nina asked, in what sounded like legitimate confusion. Turning to look, she saw the girl peering at her curiously, really looking like she didn't know. "There was nothing in the Lab, just some boxes, a paper or two, a few summer clothes, and the poor doggy. The doggy would have died if Big Sister Gaia hadn't found it just then."

The kettle whistled, so on auto-pilot, Gillian picked it up and set it on a coaster on the table with a tea bag to steep, then brought tea cups to the table. As she sat, she eyed the girl for a few long minutes, and the girl just stared back a her curiously. Finally, she poured them each a cup of tea, passing Nina's to her as she cautioned, "Be careful and blow on it—it's hot."

Nina grinned and pulled the cup close to her, blowing into it and creating ripples, which she then giggled at. Gillian had been wondering if she was somehow being had, but seeing the girl behave like any other child made her think she had just overheard things children normally wouldn't overhear. And most children's hearts went out to animals or other people who had been hurt somehow. But, if the girl was right about where the 'doggy' had been found, then Hollander...He wasn't as much on the up-and-up as he'd claimed, and as she'd thought. Just at that moment, her mind chose to remind her of Genesis having been stolen from his birth family, and she sighed deeply.

No, he had never been a truly good man, he'd been a self-serving one. She had no real excuse to hide him. And it would be easier for everyone if this girl could deliver what she knew to the Turks who had been in town for weeks by then.

"Nina, dear," she began as the girl took a sip of her tea. The girl's eyes went to hers, and she asked, "Have you seen people here in suits in black?"

"Like Big Sister Gaia and Big Brother Reaper?" she asked with a grin. "They help Big Flower Sister take care of me!"

Gillian's jaw fell open in shock as she realized a huge number of things all at once. The Turks had been there to observe Hollander. The Turks had found the 'doggy' he'd left behind. The girl had Turks as guardians. And Hollander had fled, likely to get away from the Turks' observation, which likely also meant he was doing something both illegal _and_ against Shinra's best interests. Her first thought was, "Did they send you to talk to me?"

"Nope!" the girl replied with a grin. "The nice lady said I needed to talk with you. They were going to come in the morning. I haven't named the other Turk yet, though. I just met him today, after all. Him and Big Sister Gaia were going to come, 'cause the Pro-fess-or's not there."

She blinked and stared at the girl, then asked, "They talk about their work in front of you?" Who in their right minds would share that kind of thing with a child?

Nina's expression became one of bitter pain, and Gillian felt her heart go out to the girl. "They share it because it doesn't matter to me. The bad man made sure it wouldn't. All I can do is try to fix things so they don't hurt anymore," Nina answered quietly, and behind her, the Bandersnatch whined, sticking its head around the side of the chair to lick the side of Nina's face.

She and Gillian just exchanged looks for a minute before the woman sighed in defeat. It seemed clear the girl wanted a way to help the—probably an experimental monster, so a Guard Hound or Blood Taste, recover, since the girl had been the one to bring that up herself. And it probably wouldn't hurt for the girl to be able to tell the Turks where he had gone, though she only knew a little. Honestly, if the Turks had taken responsibility for no less than two affirmed abuse victims now, they were better men and women than most of those in the Science Department.

"Wait here," she told the girl, who nodded with a curious look on her face, then got up to go upstairs. In her room, Gillian had pried up a loose floorboard so she could hide things in it without fear of them being found. It was under her bed, making its chances of discovery even less likely. In it, she kept a few memory sticks with all the data of Project G on them, and a bundle of papers which couldn't be transferred to the sticks. There were also two letters, one for Angeal and one for Genesis. All of those, she pulled out and gathered up so she could take them back down to the girl, placing them on the table in front of her.

"Lotsa paper," Nina commented, looking back up at Gillian after eying the small stack.

"Two of them are letters to my son and his best friend," she answered. "The rest, you need to give to the Turks. Before you leave, I'll give you medicine for the 'doggy' your 'Big Sister' found." She paused to assess the girl, who was peering at her intently, then found she was fairly certain Nina had a good memory. "You can also tell the Turks for me...I don't know exactly where Hollander went, but I know he planned to head north after someone offered him a job he thought sounded interesting. I believe, by the way he talked about having to prepare for the weather, that he meant the northern continent."

"Okay," Nina agreed. "I'll tell them. Even though I made you sad, do you still want me to stay?"

The woman huffed a small laugh and told her, "After we were both sad, I think I should make that peach pie, and we'll each have a warm slice, all right?"

"Oooo!" Nina grinned. "Can Alexander have some, too? Please?"

Blinking, Gillian asked, "Alexander?" Before Nina could answer, the Bandersnatch barked and shuffled to sit beside the chair rather than behind it. She stared at the monster for a minute as Nina giggled, then sighed in amusement and said, "All right, I suppose he can have a slice as well." That got her another cheer, so she started working on the pie.

"Can I help?" Nina asked from right beside her after a minute.

"Maybe you can mix the sweetened sauce the peach slices will go in?" Gillian asked.

"Okay! What do I do first?"

Gillian gave her instructions while doing her own work, and found her little helper was quite alert and able—though just as intrinsically prone to messes and accidents in the kitchen as any other child. Thankfully, she didn't hurt herself or break anything, but she'd come out of it covered in flour and sugared syrup. _That_ was going to be a nightmare to get out of her hair...Though, it had also been good for a laugh for them both.

"I wonder why the nice lady told me to bring you peaches when everyone likes dumbapples here," Nina suddenly said as she helped put the filling into the pie crust.

With another chuckle, the woman replied, "Don't think for a moment that we don't, Sweetie. We use them all the time, harvesting them right away when they decide to come ripe, and we make a lot pies and crisps, and even things like sandwiches and sauces, with them. That means we eat a lot of apples, and not a lot of other fruits. There are only three people in town who have bothered to learn to cook other kinds of pies besides dumbapple ones, and I'm one of them. Peach is one of my favorites for a change of pace."

"Ooooh," Nina grinned.

They put the pie in the oven to bake, and played a simple card game the girl had told her was called 'go fish' while they waited for it to be ready to eat. Gillian made an attempt to clean the girl's face and hair while waiting for the pie to cool, then brought the slices over to the table, Alexander's being placed on the floor under it for him. The Bandersnatch was the first one done eating, and to her surprise, he hadn't left a mess for her to clean up, so at that point, she moved the rest of the peaches from the basket to her own fruit bowl and moved all the items she'd given to Nina into the basket. After a pause while she took a packet of powder from one of her bathroom cupboards, she also placed that in the basket and put the checkered cloth over it again. All of that, she then handed back to the girl.

"Now, head on back to your guardians, all right?" Gillian told the girl at last, giving her a gentle push towards the door.

"Okay!" Nina agreed cheerfully. "It was nice meeting you, and thank you for the pie! And thank you for helping the poor doggy, too." She and Alexander then stepped outside and ran cheerfully down the street, and Gillian wondered if she should actually follow her to be sure she got back to wherever she was staying safely.

Then, she heard a man ask in a worried tone, "Nina? What did you _do_ to yourself?"

The girl replied happily, "Big Brother Reaper! I made pie!" At that, Gillian smiled in faint amusement and decided she'd be fine.

"Pie? Well, let's get back to the others. Your sister is worried sick about you and is thinking about sending out search parties," the Turk answered, and Gillian shut her door. It was obvious Nina's sister wasn't the only one who had been worried about her.

It was true they might still stop by to see her the coming day, but it would be easier to bear now that she'd done what she had.


	72. 70-Worrying State of Affairs

Worrying State of Affairs

It was now morning, and a recently-bathed Nina was sitting at the table they had chosen in the Banora Inn, happily eating while she told everyone about 'the pet doctor', Gillian Hewley. Verde had already found the data in her basket and had started going through it, but other than Nina grabbing the powder to give to Percia for 'the poor doggy', she had been completely disinterested in the basket. It was nice to know, Percia reflected, that even _Aeris_ was shocked by what her sister had done last night. At least the packet of powder had come with instructions so she'd been able to add it to the black Blood Taste's water that morning.

Turning to look at Lakis, who had taken the letters and was reading them, she asked, "Are we still going to visit her after what Nina managed to learn for us?"

"I have a couple questions for her, but it shouldn't take long, and you don't have to join me," he replied. "You can if you want to, as well." He finished the second letter and sighed as he returned them to their envelopes. "There's not much left to ask, honestly. And I think we want to see these back to Midgar as soon as we can, without just sending them through the mail."

"They have important information in them?" she asked in surprise.

Lakis shook his head. "Not for us. But I think the Commanders should have them."

"I don't think we have a way to see them safely back to Midgar, though," Percia had to sigh. Especially not if they were going to join Aeris' group to look for those Jenova Crystals. She noticed the black dog shuffle away from her just then, and since he was under the table, she could only guess at where he was going—until she saw Nina's hands under the table. "Nina, stop feeding the dogs table scraps..."

Nina giggled and held up empty hands, making everyone simultaneously chuckle and sigh. "We gotta name the doggy!" the girl announced. "The nice lady says Odin is a good name for him. Better than his last one, for sure. And she said that makes him a matching pair with Alexander." Nina then paused, and asked in confusion, "How is Odin a pair with Alexander? They're completely different!"

The others all went cross-eyed for a moment, then burst out laughing. Aeris recovered first and asked the girl, "Do you remember when I told you about the spirits called 'Summons'?"

"Yeah. You said Alexander was named after a 'holy summon'," Nina replied.

"Odin is the name of another Summon, Budling," Aeris explained. "He's a shadow elemental, which is the element opposite holy. Alexander is 'light', and Odin is 'darkness', if you will. Just like your Alexander and the black Blood Taste—your new 'poor doggy'."

"Ooooh," Nina agreed. "So, do we name him that?"

The others traded looks, then began shrugging, Zack finally voicing, "It'll be better than something inane, and with your other one being named Alexander, people would actually kind of expect it."

"Okay! His name's Odin!" Nina grinned, producing amusement from the others. "Do we get to go see the nice lady now?" she then asked, setting Aeris off on another giggling fit.

"When we're all done eating, Budling," Nanaki said, sticking his head over the edge of the table. "We'll be out by the cave entrance, where Deneh found something we're good with eating. I thought we should let you know so you didn't have to waste time looking for us." He then turned and left again as Zack called a thanks after him.

Lakis pushed his plate away with a sigh and said, "I'm going to visit Mrs. Hewley for a few more questions, so I'll meet you there. Staying or coming, Percia?"

"If you're sure I don't need to be there, I'll stay with the others," she said, and he nodded, then left as well. Percia looked at the others and asked, "So, how many more need to finish up?"

Aeris and Zack only needed a couple more minutes, then the group rose, collected their things, and headed out, Nina riding on Alexander and Odin nervously following Percia. It didn't take them long to reach the cave, where they found Deneh and Nanaki sitting in a circle of plucked feathers, Deneh just pulling the last couple from the fur on Nanaki's face. Lakis joined them along the way, commenting to the group, "Looks like they ate pheasant."

"Did you find out what you wanted to know?" Percia asked him.

"One question. The other two, she couldn't answer," he replied as they joined the two large cats. "So, what do we have to do in here?"

"If Ed is to be believed, which he usually can be," Verde began, gazing at the cave entrance thoughtfully. "Down the direct route should be a stand with seven Materia slots, and a crafted door. Scattered randomly around the cave should be the seven Materia which fit the slots on the stand. One person alone can't collect them all quickly enough to get the door open under normal circumstances, so we'll need to split our party and send everyone down different routes. The monsters also shouldn't be too powerful on this side of the door—largely some bats—and there aren't any on the other side of it. So, we should probably find the door and stand, then go searching so we know where to bring the shards back _to_."

"Sounds good," Zack agreed. "I think Nina and Alexander will be good, and I know Aeris can hold her own, along with Deneh and Nanaki. I obviously can, and each of the Turks can. We have an extra."

"Odin is probably going to follow me, though, and I'm not sure he's fit to fight, or to do that much walking, even," Percia pointed out, pointing down at the black dog pressed to her leg.

"Okay, then why don't you just make sure there are no monsters around the door and stand?" Zack asked. She gave agreement, so he went on, "If we're all good now, let's get in there and see what happens."

It didn't take long to find the stand and the door, so Percia took care of the few enemies there as the others split off, Nina's laughter echoing through the cave. In less than ten minutes, the group started returning, each carrying a shard which would fit the stand, a soaking wet Nina and Alexander the last to return just after ten minutes. No one even tried to guess how they had gotten soaked (the cave was full of water, and Alexander was known for jumping right in), they just put the shards in place and watched in amazement as the door opened.

The room behind the door seemed to be a large, dark space only lit by a statue of an armored, robed woman who held her hands up with the largest single Materia shard the group had ever seen held in them. As the door shut behind them, they jumped, but had no more time to react as the room swirled with green-white energy, filled their vision completely, then parted to create a sort of 'space' they couldn't properly define. As the light had parted, they became aware of a woman standing with them who looked a great deal like the one depicted in the statue, but in color. Her robe was white, the armored pieces gold, and her hair blond. She had eyes the same color as Aeris and Nina's, and in her hand was a bladed staff, but she stood in a relaxed pose.

"The nice lady!" Nina grinned, running to her to hug her legs.

Everyone saw the small smile on her lips as she looked down at the girl and said, without moving her mouth, _:Welcome, little Budling. You look well.:_

"You gave me a good family!" Nina chirped, and the energy around them suddenly felt warm, affectionate.

_:That is good to know,:_ the woman said in reply, then looked up at the others. _:For those of you who do not know me, I am Minerva.:_ Her gaze moved thoughtfully to Lakis as she said, _:You have never before visited me, though I do not sense innate desire to harm in you.:_

"You would say that, even though I'm part of the BDSM scene?" Lakis asked in amusement, and a frown creased Verde's face.

_:Your partners are willing, for their own reasons, and whatever may pass between you does me, and my world, no harm,:_ she replied, and everyone stared in amazement, even Verde. _:There is a distinct difference between someone suffering pain they have no wish to suffer, and someone who, for whatever reason, desires exactly that. You do not torture, or harm for the sake of doing so, much unlike your current leader.:_ The words made Lakis pale.

Her gaze then moved to Aeris and Zack, and she addressed them as, _:Beloved Child, the Dynamism. You must have Jeh-nova's body destroyed. If you are unable to do so, another must, and it must be done soon. At a later time, I shall speak with you both again.:_

They both nodded as Aeris agreed, despite her obvious surprise, "Of course."

At that point, her gaze turned to Verde as she said, _:You have but one issue to resolve, Sentinel. After many of your experiences, I know very well why it is difficult for you to accept that what you view as abuse may not be such to the person experiencing it. An adult is fully capable of making such a decision, and at times gains benefit from a harsh treatment they have chosen for themselves. You must learn to accept that such a thing has a place.:_

He didn't reply, so she turned to the two Motos to say, _:For expedience, Children of the Cosmo Candle, the knowledge you each need shall be imprinted. Take time to assess it, as you both have decisions to make. Please discuss between yourselves those messages.:_ They nodded, then just hunkered down, obviously trying to sort through what knowledge she had suddenly given them. Her gaze moved to Percia as she when on, _:And you, my Earthen Champion. We have much to discuss, and this may not be able to be resolved just now.:_

After having seen how Nina treated Minerva, Percia drew in a deep breath and asked, "Could you start by explaining to me why you call me that? Ed still hasn't."

_:I have asked that he not. Your circumstances are significantly different this time, as your uniform clearly shows,:_ Minerva told her, and she looked down at her Turk uniform, still confused about why that meant Ed couldn't tell her. _:There is a being I created to maintain populations at levels which are not harmful to the Planet,:_ Minerva said, and everyone's eyes went to her apprehensively. _:Zirconaide's Materia has always eventually been found by those currently in power. They have, every time, shattered it into five pieces. However, every previous time, one of those pieces was embedded in your arm, my Earthen Champion, and could not be removed by known means. My Judge and my Ancient Sentinel worked extensively to find some solution, with what guidance I could give them, and the result invariably merged yourself and Zirconaide.:_

Minerva paused to give them a minute to absorb what she'd said, then she went on, _:That merging not only saved your life, as yourself, but gave Zirconaide much needed grounding and ability to truly assess a correct course of action. In his current state, he would annihilate all living things on the Planet; however, his abilities are much needed just now. It is a difficult situation, and because you are not already holding one of his fragments by default, it was better that I speak with you of this, answer questions you have, and allow you the opportunity to answer, my Earthen Champion.:_

For a long moment, a stunned Percia just stood there, trying to sort her thoughts and feelings. She felt an instinctive recoil regarding what she'd been told, but also noted how Zirconaide was out of control, and that she would have to choose. The first thing which came to mind was, "Will I still be your 'Earthen Champion' if I don't take him, or is that apparent affection dependent on my doing so?"

She saw Aeris gape at her in shock at the question, but Minerva replied evenly, _:You were my Earthen Champion to me before you were to merge with Zirconaide. Your essence is still exactly that without him, and shall remain as such. This is why the decision must be your own, now that you are in a situation where you do indeed have a choice. I shall not force it upon you, as even as you are, there is much good you do for my world, and which you are able to do for it. My Earthen Champion.:_

If who she was wasn't dependent on Zirconaide, Percia realized she would actually have to give it thought. The questions then became more about Zirconaide and what other options Minerva had, so she asked first, "So, if I were to say no, is there another way you could get done what you apparently need Zirconaide for?"

_:There is one option, though it would take much time. It would involve having my Ancient Sentinel or my Judge destroy the existing shards of Zirconaide so I may re-form the Materia. I am yet unfamiliar with how you little children of mine count time, though I know it would take likely until your current leaders have passed on of age,:_ Minerva explained. _:However, that is not what you must base your decision on. Should it become necessary, I could possibly have many Sentinels activate a world-wide cleansing for me to do what you and Zirconaide could have done. That would require locating and informing enough trust-worthy Sentinels.:_

"_Are_ there enough of them?" Percia asked in surprise.

_:Easily enough in number. Trust-worthiness, however...Less so. Perhaps?:_

"What are Sentinels?" she frowned in puzzlement.

_:...I believe my Ancient Sentinel informed me they are now widely known as Mages.:_

Everyone gaped at the new information, realizing two of them were standing there right then. But Percia already knew she couldn't make the decision yet, and she knew she had more questions, but no means of formulating them just then. "Is it possible for me to just think about this for awhile, and if we meet you again in the north, ask the rest of my questions then? I can't...think clearly enough right now," she said.

_:Of course, my Earthen Champion,:_ Minerva smiled gently. _:I am always relieved to see such a challenging decision being given the care and thought it needs. Fare well for now, then, travelers.:_

The white-green faded out as she did, and they were left back in the room with the statue. Too stunned for words, they made their way back to the Inn and settled in for the remainder of the day, still processing everything they had learned.

FoWD

Lady Shinra was startled to feel hands catch her arms, and looked up to see a worried Vincent holding onto her. "You should sit before you hurt yourself, Lady Shinra," he told her, and she took note of her surroundings.

Her office was unchanged, except for the fact that she had gotten up and been using her cane to walk—to pace—in front of the window. She honestly had no idea how long she'd been doing it, but it must have been awhile if Vincent had forcibly stopped her. Admittedly, she'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts that her surroundings had become irrelevant, and having her train of thought broken was actually disorienting. But it still left her one major dilemma...Marius had been trying to put martial law in place since he'd unveiled Deepground, and trying to get him to remove it...Probably wouldn't happen.

"_Does she do that a lot? Especially if she's worried or something?"_ Carbuncle asked from the top of her chair.

Before either of them could answer, the door opened and a very annoyed Rufus led a very upset Edward into the room. She felt pained to see a betrayed look on the younger blond's face, along with whatever fear and worry he also felt, and Elicia was repeatedly curling behind his head as she nervously stepped from one of his shoulders to the other. It had been a couple days, and Verdot's work with the Academy students, along with the paperwork for the new state of affairs, had kept her far too busy to even _think_ about visiting the young man. And she knew why he felt betrayed—they had all walked right into the very thing they had been trying to prevent.

In a rare show of finding his voice, Edward burst out, "How could you _do_ that? Everything you tried to stop, just to—to—"

"I know," she told him quietly, slowly moving to her chair, and feeling pain in her legs that told her she had definitely been pacing for far too long.

"_Do_ you?" he asked in a pained tone.

"I've been asking myself if there really was no other way since. But then, I just keep coming back to the same two points, one of them being Marius' bid for control, and one being the Wutains here to invade," she told him as she carefully sat. "If it was just me, I would remove it as soon as the problem is taken care of, but I know it will be next to impossible to have him do so now that it's been put in place. But on that same token, Edward...Everything he and I said in that speech was true. Stroud witnessed horrific torture, even watched a woman kill herself as a result of it, all in broad daylight."

When Edward's eyes widened and he shivered—which caused Elicia to stop where she was and lean against the side of his neck—she went on, tone and gaze pained, "If they had attacked at night, when the store was closed, taken what they wanted, and left, with few or no injuries or deaths, I could have argued against this move. They went during open hours, while people were shopping, to deliberately kill and torture our civilians—women, children, working men. If Stroud hadn't been there, it would have been far worse, and we likely wouldn't have had any way to verify who had done it. On the heels of that attack, Yufi and Shelke were nearly killed and kidnapped, respectively, _by the same people_."

Again, the younger's eyes widened and became pained. "Now, several Academy students who live in the Slums have affirmed they've been being followed for between three days and a week—by people _they can't see_. We've had to suddenly find temporary housing up here for all of the Slum-based students and their families, just to get them out of the reach of those stalkers, who are most likely those Wutains trying to find someone who can get them into our systems. Because you can't tell us where they are, this was the only way to protect our citizens."

It was obvious he was shaken, and his fists clenched tightly as he asked no one in particular, "Why is it never enough?" His voice sounded so hopeless and pained that everyone in the room was brought nearly to tears. Rufus reached over to grip the younger blond's shoulder. Before anyone could answer, Edward gave his head a shake and asked, "Why do I have to keep _doing_ this if it's doomed to failure, no matter how hard I try?"

And for the first time since she'd overcome the depression at the loss of her legs, Lady Shinra snapped, telling him harshly, "We _really_ don't need your pity party right now, Edward. To be frank, _we're not dead yet_." The blond's eyes moved to hers in shock, as did everyone else's, but she wasn't done yet—his mental state needed to be forcibly pulled away from such thoughts. "You seem to be operating on the assumption that everything that happens hinges on _you_. That's arrogance at it's finest, because _you're_ not the one out there trying to save people or counter Marius' plans—or Fuhito's, or Jenova's, or our Wutain attackers'. _You're_ just circumstantial, and while your knowledge helps—_none_ of this is _about you_. This is _our_ world to save, because ultimately, it's Shinra Company which has _caused_ all this mess in the _first_ place. Stop making this about _you_, because it's _not_."

"_...Whoa...That's _definitely_ new,"_ Carbuncle commented in awe from the back of her chair as the three men just stared at her with wide eyes.

Her anger suddenly broke and she sighed as she closed her eyes. After drawing in several deep breaths, she opened them again and met Edward's stunned, pained, golden gaze. "I'm not trying to negate what you've done for us, Edward," she told him more gently. "But you're blaming yourself for things which, despite your intervention, were never dependent upon you. We aren't dead yet, but somehow, you've already assigned us to that state. Why?"

"Because martial law invariably means he goes on a massive killing spree, or they do it without his say," the blond replied weakly, sounding winded. "It's only a matter of time now."

"And we're _still_ not dead yet," Lady Shinra replied, meeting his gaze evenly. "I've put in restrictions, and this time we have counter-checks in place, so he can't just do whatever he wants. The SOLDIERs have all been quietly informed that they are to stop Deepground with any force they deem necessary if they start murdering civilians, as well as to stop other abuses of power. We also have other factors in play which could very well change the playing field—the Restrictor who took you that day has been to see Lucrecia about Chaos and Omega Theory, apparently wanting details not in the reports he was able to find. Her description of him was 'oddly thoughtful'. If one of them can become an ally, things may not go the way they have in the past, because _they_, _not_ my husband, have control of Deepground. Don't write us off yet, Edward."

His gaze searched hers for a long time before he looked down. "You'll have to kill him to get rid of martial law..."

"And I keep coming back to that," she agreed.

"Doesn't that bother you?" he asked in alarm.

Lifting her shoulders in a shrug, she said, "On some level, yes. We haven't been close since my legs were damaged, and he's been taking Mistresses on the side. I honestly don't care as long as it keeps him from bothering me when I'm not interested. It would be a change in my life, and in Rufus' life, if he died or was murdered, and part of me would probably regret that necessity, but ultimately, I'm not close enough to him for his death to cause me more than minor sorrow. That's the sad state of our marital affairs, the sad state it's been in for decades. And, it's also not something you need to worry about."

"Why did you even put in martial law if you were going to doubt it afterwards?" Rufus asked in annoyance after a silence. "Without even bothering to involve _me_."

"Yufi and Tseng were in agreement with this move, _because_ we need more forces in more places than we normally have them just now, and we _need_ to be able to keep track of people who don't belong," Lady Shinra answered. "Not involving you was somewhat accidental in the rush to respond to the attack and the work we had to get done, but it ultimately hasn't changed anything. I may have doubts about how well removing it will go, but not about having initiated it."

For the first time since martial law had been put in place, Edward smiled faintly, though it was directed at Rufus' cross look. His gaze then moved to her again as he asked, "You really think you can keep the Planet whole this time? Even now?"

"Yes," she agreed with a small smile. "Our situation may not be ideal just now, but it's also not hopeless. And there are a lot of people working to push things towards keeping the world in one piece. Have you heard that the lines between the Guards and the Hounds have been blurring lately, and they've started working together of their own accord?"

"They have?" the younger blond asked in surprise.

"They have," the woman agreed.

The words caused a lot of his tension to release as he said quietly, "I really hope it's enough."

"By the way..." Vincent began, making the others look at him in mild surprise. "Where's Kariya, and how did you end up with Rufus?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Rufus scowled in reply, and Vincent gave him an amused look.

"Not at all. Just wondering how it happened," he replied to the younger man evenly.

Rufus huffed and said, "Kariya's with Shelke, Shalua, and a blond girl from the Academy who I believe is Emma's younger sister. The blond girl apparently can't safely go back to the Slums now—if what you said earlier is true, Mother, that would explain it. Ed was feeling unsettled and not up for that sort of company, so when Kariya found me in the elevator, he sent Ed with me. And Ed, in turn, effectively demanded we pay a visit to you."

"Fair enough. Is this resolved now, or was there anything else?" Vincent asked.

"I guess it's as resolved as much as it can be for now," Ed sighed faintly.

"If that's the case, and you're not feeling up for company, you should find a place other than here to be," Lady Shinra said knowingly as she checked her PHS. "I'm going to have several visitors shortly for a meeting to iron out a few points."

With nods and farewells, the two blonds left, and she breathed a sigh of relief, which produced giggles from Carbuncle. Now all she had to do was make good on saving the world. Admittedly, though, she'd have done so anyway.


	73. 71-Depth of Deception

Depth of Deception

Donnel and Doriss were sitting to either side of his desk as they went through some archived files about a week after Ed had spoken with Lady Shinra, not at all sure what they were looking for. The files were old, with lesser and lesser quality photographs and sparser and sparser data the further back in time they went. To complicate matters further, the files were on what would normally be unrelated topics—different past employees from a range of departments, criminals, locations, objects, parties, and even criminal case proceedings. It was tedious work when Verdot hadn't been able to tell them what they were actually trying to find, give them a keyword to keep in mind, or even tell them why this was the selection of files they had to work with.

"I think he has more answers than he's given us," Doriss scowled in annoyance. "How can we actually find anything with no clues?"

"Luck?" Donnel replied in mild amusement. When she shot a glare at him, he elaborated, "I wish we had more to work on than this, too, Dor, but sometimes, planting ideas is a bad thing. If the idea isn't planted, we'll only take note of something which actually comes across as 'strange'."

"And we have no idea how this is helping any of our _current_ cases," the blond woman replied, still obviously annoyed.

Sitting back and tipping his head to stare up at the ceiling, Donnel thought about the point, then mused, "On the other hand, some past cases are tied very strongly to current ones." She blinked at him, but said nothing, just letting him mull over the thought until it generated a logical point. Finally, he realized why they had been given such random data about things which seemed unrelated, and straightened to meet her gaze. "These _are_ random. We have a lot of cases with a lot of missing links, and while we know, thanks to A—Ed, that they actually _are_ related, we _don't_ have the proof to tie them together. What Verdot wants us to do is _find_ that proof. What better way than some completely random files? On that token, _he_ knows about as much as _we_ do."

Doriss had to snort, then laugh in amusement, causing the other Turks there at the time to turn to look at the two curiously. She waved them off, then said to Donnel, "So he couldn't tell us what to look for because he honestly doesn't know, he just knows something needs to be found, and it needs to be found soon?"

"Most likely," Donnel agreed.

"What shitty orders," the woman sighed, and Donnel had to chuckle.

"Better you two than me," Alvis piped up from beside them, a file in his hands as he eyed the paperwork and photos spread out around them with disdain. "Doriss, have a look at this, will you? It's like someone dropped the ball somewhere and there's a big hole in this file."

"Old or recent?" she asked with a puzzled frown, turning to look at him, hand extended for the folder.

"Shockingly, it's recent," Alvis replied.

As Doriss started going through the paperwork Alvis had offered her, Donnel turned back to the scattered data they had across his desk. It still didn't look like anything was out of place, but he didn't know if they could actually switch off files, and Verdot was already gone for the night. Then, he caught something out of the corner of his eye and paused for a moment as he tracked the 'thing' to its actual origin. Finding it in a photo mostly hidden under another one, he pushed the top one out of the way and pulled the now-revealed one closer.

It took several minutes of gazing at the somewhat faded photo to realize what had suddenly caught his eye, but then he reached over to grab another photograph from Doriss' side of the desk, laying it beside the first. Then, his eyes widened and he went back to the crime and event photos, gathering those to start going through them intently. It became obvious very quickly that several had one commonality which linked them—one thing normally no one would look at, a belt buckle. And normally, it would be irrelevant, but _these particular_ belt buckles were rather notable to the Turks, especially after Sirra's run-in with an old enemy.

And to top all _that_ off, looking at some of the faces in the background told him two more things; most of the people they'd thought were dead weren't, and one man in particular who appeared in one scene as an 'onlooker' at a public murder site was familiar to him. The man wore the belt buckle in question, but he was also someone Donnel knew well and had learned to both fear and hate from a very young age. That man had been his first 'master'...and also his father. He hadn't seen the man in many, many years, since he'd been sold to a different 'master', one who had eventually been killed by the Turks.

"Oh, Shiva, we're in deeper trouble than we realized..." he breathed, causing both Doriss and Alvis to look at him in puzzlement.

"What did you find?" the woman asked, leaning over to look at the photos he'd collected in front of him.

Turning around the first photo he'd noticed it in so she could see it, he pointed at the belt buckle of a man standing in the background, and Doriss had to blink at it for a moment before her eyes widened. "But this photo is from ten years ago! Deepground wasn't even functional then!"

"That wouldn't have stopped a few exemplary members or the Restrictors from pulling strings in the background," Donnel replied through clenched teeth, eyes focused on that man, who was in a different photo from the one the blond was looking at.

Doriss eyed him for a long moment, then faced Alvis and said, "About your case, there's a 'hole missing' because someone took a single page out of the file and didn't return it. You should report that to Verdot tomorrow, or to Tseng tonight if you don't think you can wait."

"I'll do that," Alvis agreed, then headed for their 'director's' office. It was clear he didn't think it could wait.

She then turned back to Donnel and asked quietly, "Are you about to go 'combat slave' on me, Donnel?"

His gaze moved up to her, then he shook his head and turned the photo causing him grief to face her, pointing at the man in the background. "He's got the buckle, too, right?"

The woman eyed the man in the photo for a long moment, then said, "Yes, and he seems to remind me of you."

"He's my father, the one who first trained me, the one who sold me into literal slavery," he replied, voice frosty, and her eyes widened in alarm. "As far as I knew through some old records the Turks keep on citizenship, he had disappeared one day around ten years ago. This photo was taken four years ago."

"Was he presumed dead or anything like that? Attacked or anything?" she asked after a momentary silence, reaching over to grip his tense hand, which was still pointing at the man in the photo, in hers.

"No. He just—up and walked away one day," the red haired man answered with a sigh, relaxing his hand to let Doriss hold it properly. "No sign of a struggle, no sign he even _packed_. But I'm starting to see an awful lot of people who had disappeared or died suddenly alive again in these photos. How long have they—has Deepground—been manipulating things in the background?"

At the question, Doriss sighed. "Apparently, for quite awhile."

"We're going to have to do a lot of leg-work and a lot of research on this," Donnel sighed, then rose. "Our first priorities are finding more of these types of public scene photos—and we may want to look in old newspapers and things for those, too—and cross-referencing who they are. Since all we have is a visual, no name, that will mean manually looking through past employee and citizenship photos. Which one do you want to take on?"

The woman rose and said, "I'll start by going back to the archives and finding more incidences where the photos show Deepground people. Also, I want to note what events we know they were present for, and how the event turned out. If you want to start comparing them to our databases, we're good."

"I can do that," he agreed, gathering what they already had with them, sorting it back into the correct files, and going to one of their general supply cabinets for copies of a particular form which would make it easy to list the data he needed to. In the meantime, Doriss headed out of the room after collecting a notepad and pen from her desk. He had to sigh as he sat back down and began making notes of the files they had already found the belts in, knowing how tedious both sides of the job were going to be.

FoWD

About a week after Doriss and Donnel had begun working on the photos (which was an ongoing process Doriss often complained about), Ed was sitting by himself in his apartment, reading. In theory, Elicia should have been with him, but Yufi and Shelke had borrowed her temporarily—for the third time that week. They didn't tell him what they were doing, not even Elicia, but since the little robot was always happy when she came back, he wasn't all that worried about it. He had still been going out every three days or so with them, and otherwise only had visitors to his place.

Since he'd finally figured out the array pattern for his spikes, he'd started finding places for them, being careful to put them in places where it was likely an enemy would touch him but an ally wouldn't. Those places included in his hair tie and down the length of his ponytail (those were on strings hidden in his hair), at his waistline, and at his wrists and ankles. Though, he'd made the ones at his wrists invisible and only told Elicia, Kariya, and Doriss they were there so far. Admittedly, it was likely for an ally to grab his wrist, though it was more likely they would grab his hand, elbow, or arm instead. Enemies, seeking to overpower, nearly always went directly for the wrists. Also, if he was only bound with normal rope or fabric, the spikes in those places would let him cut through them to free himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by his balcony door opening, and he looked up with a faint smile, expecting to see Doriss—only to see a Restrictor instead. His face fell, but after a moment, he realized it was Veld, even as the man strode over to the nearest chair and sat.

"Are you done assessing that I'm not a threat?" Veld asked dryly as Ed closed his book, using one finger to keep his page.

"I don't think that's the right wording, since you _are_ a threat," Ed answered in vague amusement. "You just don't seem to intend harm _at this moment_. You _do_ realize the Turks are going to panic, right?"

"You mean the alarms around the balcony door?" Veld asked in a dry tone, and Ed blinked, then nodded. "I have a nifty little device which forces them to hold their state without interrupting their flows—as long as it's there, no one will be able to tell if someone's coming in or going out that way. Unless someone's planning to come check on you, there won't be any interruptions."

The blond's gaze became alarmed for a moment before he drew in a deep breath and released it slowly as he asked, "So, why are you here?"

"More questions and clarification," the man replied. Again, the younger of the two blinked in surprise. "Deepground is part of the problem, isn't it?"

"Generally, other than the few who are still sane enough to live normal lives," Ed agreed quietly.

"There are any of those?" Veld asked with a raised brow.

"This time around, there's potential to save three, maybe even four, of the Tsviets, but of the regular members, I have no idea how many that would be. I can usually only save two of the Tsviets and about two dozen regular members," the blond answered with a small sigh. "And no, I'm not going to tell you who the sane ones are. If you don't already know, figuring it out is up to you."

The man gave him a vaguely annoyed look, then sighed faintly before pausing. Finally, Veld asked, "What _is_ Jenova?" and the blond found himself tipping his head to the side for a moment as his brain broke temporarily. "All of the records I found showed their speculation about what she may be, some things she wasn't, and how they somehow arrived at her being a Cetra, but nothing gave a clear indication of what she _actually_ is. Somehow, I think you can tell me."

Finally, after Ed managed to get his mind working again, he snorted and said, "She's a planetary sentience who went insane and now only wants to destroy any world she arrives on. Right now, that's here."

"A...planetary sentience?" the black-clad man asked in confusion.

"Minerva is this world's sentience. Her essence is what creates Mako and Materia, and is what the President is dragging out of the planet with his Reactors. She's the one who created life here, the reason we exist and have food and water. Without her, the world will die, and her life is what both the President and Jenova are trying very hard to erode. She has certain terms she operates by, and things like mass deaths and mass torture lead her closer to demise, regardless of the drain on her. Those make her a planetary sentience's version of being very sick, like with terminal cancer. Jenova long since crossed that line herself, and it's only her insanity keeping her alive right now."

For a long minute, Veld was silent, assessing. "The department reports say Fuhito wants to destroy the entire human race. Would that destroy the world?"

"Yes, unless Minerva did it herself by gently cleansing everyone. And if she cleansed them, the mostly good people wouldn't die, anyway," Ed replied, sighing faintly. "There have been times when you lot or the President have managed to do Fuhito's job _for_ him in that regard. But Deepground itself, the experiments you do, the way you treat your members—that also will lead her to her death, and the more it happens, the closer she gets. It may take longer to do it by mass torture, but not by all that much."

"How do you even know such a being as 'Minerva' exists?" Veld asked in confusion.

"Because I can talk with her, and with the other souls in the Lifestream," the blond answered in a dry tone. "I don't know what they actually called me in my file, only that my blood is Mako and that I have some strange abilities because of it. I think my being able to communicate with 'the Planet' was noted because of what I did to find Kariya, something one of the Hounds was present for."

"It was," the older man agreed, tone once again thoughtful. "But apparently no one knows 'the Planet' is sentient or named Minerva."

"Only the few living Cetra know that, normally," Ed sighed getting up and going to the fridge as he set his book on the table. It was obvious Veld was going to be there for a bit, so he asked, "You want a drink and snack since this is shaping up to be a fairly long discussion?"

"How cordial," the other man commented in amusement, then added, "Sure."

It only took a few minutes to grab drinks and snacks from the fridge and cupboard and return to the living room with them, setting them on the coffee table as he sat down again and opened his chosen drink. While the man could have eaten with his mask on, he chose to take it off, and Ed unintentionally just stared at him, much the way he had the first time he'd seen Kariya take off his sunglasses in front of him. That felt like so long ago, and he had to wonder why Veld was letting him in this much—much like Turks, the Restrictors had reasons for everything they did, and nothing was actually accidental.

Veld's brow quirked in vague amusement and he asked, "Like what you see?"

"No, I'm just surprised you're letting me in so easily," Ed replied instinctively, still not feeling any trace of embarrassment at being caught staring. Then he snorted and commented, "Deja vu."

"What's a what now?" Veld asked, both brows raised nearly to his hairline.

"Sorry," the blond answered with a faint chuckle. "Just, when I first met this dimension's Kariya and he brought me back here, one of the first things he did was relax and take his sunglasses off—he let me in. We just effectively had the same discussion as I had with him that day."

Veld's expression was a mix of puzzled and amused, but he settled back and said, "Something tells me you'd be in a panic right now if I had never done that 'letting you in', as you called it."

"That's probably what allowed me to calm down at the restaurant, too," Ed offered quietly. "Points of separation between the person I had previously known and the person you are right now does me wonders emotionally."

For a long moment, the older man was quiet, but then he said, "I went through a cross-section sample of the data in the archives. While there were a few categories of data we weren't supposed to get in the first place—the basic secretarial and budgeting data, for example—we _were supposed_ to have gotten nearly twice as much data as we were given. He definitely wanted us to believe certain things by exactly what data he was withholding from us. However, I'm not sure I grasp why you would say he makes a habit of betraying people, rather than simply leaving it at his being a liar."

"That's right, you don't have the comparison," the younger man replied with a faint sigh. "Every time he sends you to try to kill Lady Shinra, that's an act of betrayal right there. But what you maybe don't realize is that President Shinra has been deliberately betraying the trust of the Turks in the Hounds' faction—the ones sworn to him—since they joined. What you found in the files, if you found any Turks who had wanted some item retrieved, usually to get closure in regards to their past, every time it led to a massacre, and to what _wasn't_ noted, a major deception—a literal betrayal of both Lady Shinra and the Turk in question."

At the recognition in Veld's gaze, Ed went on, "The reality is, they had asked Lady Shinra for help, and she had been working on it—only for people she had thought were bandits to come in, slaughter everyone, take the very thing she'd been trying to retrieve, and vanish without a trace. Then, the President only offered to 'get' the item in question _after_ Lady Shinra had to tell the Turk she couldn't do it. Both of those events happened _after_ the so-called bandit attack—which was the raid, or raids, you read about, done normally either by skilled Infantry or by the early SOLDIER trials. Those aren't the only records of betrayal, either."

Veld's lips pursed as he looked away, staring blankly into the distance as his thoughts turned inward for several minutes. Finally, he sighed and returned his attention to Ed. "As much as I don't like to acknowledge that point, it's not far-fetched. By extension, his loyalty to us is non-existent and he only created or keeps us because we're useful. If it's also true his way of doing things would cause Shinra's collapse, we should actually be taking our cues from Lady Shinra, who is the one keeping the company—and him, by extension—in power. Which goes directly opposite the ingrained training we've all been given since Deepground's founding."

"How _did_ Deepground form? How is it you four were chosen, how did you start choosing others?" the younger man asked suddenly, feeling like there was something important, or at least useful, he could glean from having that information.

The man blinked at him in surprise, opened his mouth, then drew in a sharp breath as his eyes went wide with shock. Ed suddenly felt worried, but the other man waylaid his fear by saying, "Doctor Crescent's thought that some of your genetic changes act as a kind of truth serum are true. I don't think I'd be able to lie to you without consciously working against that effect you have on others around you."

For a long moment, Ed just stared at him in wide-eyed surprise, but then he asked in a winded tone, "How do you suddenly know that?"

"Up until now, you've been the one providing information in our discussions, not asking for something you legitimately wanted answers to," Veld pointed out. "But some of my experimental results give me energy definition abilities most don't have, and I actively saw the energies around you flow to help get you the answers you wanted. It feels almost like a gentle breath, creates an instinctive desire to talk freely. Watching one's words is one thing, but without being aware of it, or maybe having an extreme desire to lie, that's not actually possible to do to you directly."

"...Okay...I need time to process that data," the blond sighed faintly. "And my questions?"

"Deepground was in the works from the time builders and engineers started planning the city design," Veld answered with a faint sigh. "There were a limited number who saw the design plans for the pillar base and the underground chamber where the Reactor would be, and the crews who worked on building the Reactor and pillar base were all murdered in a so-called 'construction accident', just so they wouldn't be able to tell anyone what they had built. A completely different crew built the majority of the pillar and the Upper Plate's frame, but then there was the 'hospital' in the core, and those who built it were the first round of experimental subjects. One of those was the prototype for the Restrictors."

The man paused, but Ed just gazed at him, expression troubled as he listened quietly, so Veld went on, "A third crew took over the building of the Upper Plate itself, and the hospital facility became the primary experimental facility until the Restrictors were ready to move things into Deepground. I had been a merc guarding one of the few engineers left alive with the knowledge of what was below, and had been roughly what Verdot is to the President. When I was later severely injured on assignment, he had me shipped to his facility to be made into one of the Restrictors. I was also the first success. The other three came in fairly quick succession, also as people the President wasn't quite so suspicious of.

"Once the four of us were in place, we were told to take the doctors who had been working on creating us into Deepground with any remaining subjects who weren't dead yet. From there, the doctors and scientists, all chosen by the President, were to work on the control chip and start experimenting for the purposes of creating Deepground. As the Restrictors, we had two requirements for bringing people into Deepground—either the President had us take them, or they were injured in battle and we took them before someone could take them for standard medical care. There was nothing else, though we appreciated finding strong people who would take the chance without needing to be mostly dead. There's nothing more to it, unless you want details?"

Shaking his head, the blond said, "No, I have a pretty good idea of what happened to people. Why are you so loyal to him if he caused you so much suffering?"

"I'm alive now because of the experiments done on me. I had thought the President had legitimately wanted to save my life and the lives of the other three Restrictors, and it's only now I'm re-thinking what his reasons were," the older man answered almost tiredly. "So, as things stand, in theory I'm supposed to obey the President above all others, regardless of what that will cause to the Company or the Planet. I don't believe the other Restrictors will side with me, because they weren't given the same leniency to plot to work around Lady Shinra, so none of what I now know means anything to them."

"...You're going to just keep going along with the President?" Ed asked quietly, shoulders slumping.

Veld's lips quirked. "I should be saying 'yes', but if that will truly lead us to our doom in the not-so-distant future, it actually defeats the purpose of everything we were doing, and were supposed to do. What's the point of obeying him if that means there's no world to live on anymore ten years down the road? We'll probably still all be alive then. I still have a few things I'm looking into, but for the moment, all I'm doing is keeping Deepground in check while we're trying to deal with the Wutains and AVALANCHE." He then rose, retrieved his mask and helmet, and put them back on. "In the meantime, I don't think there's anything else I want to ask, so I'll head out."

"Sure," Ed agreed, watching as the man stepped outside, removed a device from the top edge of the balcony door, and climbed the balcony.

And now, Ed had a lot of data to think on, himself. Midgar had been being built starting in nineteen seventy-six, which was even before Jenova had been found. If it was true Deepground had been in the works during the planning stages in nineteen seventy-four and nineteen seventy-five, it was older than he had ever realized, and had never been based on the Cetra or the Promised Land. It was also not something which was intended to directly counter Lady Shinra—it had _always been_ part of the President's plan.

For the first time, Ed felt truly frightened by what kind of man the President was.


	74. 72-Tough Choice

**A/N:** Of 25 voters on the mixed random and CA story options poll:

Totals for random story lines:

1) Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist: Botherhood/manga: 13 votes

2) FFVII: 10 votes

3) Harry Potter: 8 votes

4) Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: 4 votes (low on the list, so likely won't be done until the other 3 above are)

5) FFXII/FFVII: 4 votes (low on the list, so likely won't be done until the other 3 above are)

6) Durarara!/Inu-Yasha: 4 votes (low on the list, so likely won't be done until the other 3 above are)

Totals for CA-related options:

1) FFVII/RWBY/FMA:B (Remnant cast on FoW Gaia): 8 votes

2) FFVII/Harry Potter/FMA:B (Harry Potter cast on SH Gaia): 8 votes

3) FFVII/Digimon 01/02/FMA:B (Digimon cast on FoW Gaia): 4 votes (not high in the running, but maybe possible)

The last CA option only had 2 votes so it's unlikely to be written, though I won't discount the possibility completely.

**Now, on with the story!**

Tough Choice

The group trying to destroy the Jenova Crystals, and now to also find Hollander, had made their way to Bone Village, and into the 'Sleeping Forest' to the Forgotten Capital of the Ancients. Verde had been rather put out by the meeting with Minerva, but Lakis and Percia had been fine with joining the group—and had realized Nina was rather high maintenance, despite being a generally happy girl. She almost seemed to attract trouble, even without intending it, much like the blond back in Midgar who she called 'Little Big Brother'.

For his part, Lakis had largely kept his preferences private, rather than putting himself in a position where it could be found out. Balto, on the other hand, had liked the element of stress, which had gotten him caught, then he had proceeded to capitalize on it. Lakis having kept quiet had left him with a semi-cordial relationship with Verde, until the meeting with Minerva, after which the other man had become distant. Mostly, Lakis wasn't actually worried about it, since Minerva had given all of them a lot to think about, and he was now seriously questioning which 'authority' he should have put first.

It also hadn't taken him long to realize the shores of the shallow water which sat in many places around the city were peaceful places to be, especially after everyone had migrated down to the lower chamber, so he had picked a place in the upper city to sit and think instead. It had taken longer than expected to head north—three weeks before they had assessed they could safely reach no other Jenova Crystals, even though they knew there were others in the oceans. Now, taking another rest for Nina meant slowing their ability to catch up to Hollander even more, and that was annoying on some levels. With everything else he had to think about, though, it wasn't bothering him as much as it likely should have been.

Suddenly, Verde sat down beside him, looking torn and confused. Rather than ask, Lakis just let him sort his thoughts and decide what to say to open the discussion. It took several minutes for Verde to finally ask, "How can you justify effectively torturing someone?"

In reply, Lakis sighed and asked, "Why are you so incredibly opposed to it? Minerva implied you had an actual reason. It would help me to explain it if I knew your previous experience."

For a moment, Verde sat tensely beside him, then sighed heavily and relaxed as he quietly answered, "From a young age, my mother tortured me by whipping me or beating me in other ways. I ran away from home because of it—ended up in the slave market and sold to at least a dozen different people who were no better, until I finally got strong enough to kill my 'master' and go out on my own."

Rubbing his eyes, Lakis said, "That's a definite reason to react badly to something which is ingrained in your mind as torture." He then paused and shifted to face the other man, telling him, "You were never given a choice in the matter, and you obviously don't have masochistic tendencies. What I can tell you is that anything I've done to a partner, I've also had done to me, either by that same partner if they so wished, or by someone else, _before_ I did it to a partner. I'm an experimenter, but I don't qualify as a sadist—I just want to know what it feels like, both sides of the equation. It's also how I found out I happen to be a masochist, and pain actually arouses me."

Verde's eyes widened before he asked in shock, "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know," Lakis answered in amusement. "It's just the way my mind and body process that particular sensation. In that regard, it's very difficult for anyone to actually 'torture' me, though..." He paused for a moment, then sighed as his face fell. "There's a distinct difference between being willing—wanting to experiment—and being forced. I also found _that_ out the hard way on a mission gone wrong a few years back. And Verde, if you aren't willing, I would never even ask you. Like myself, I want my partner to be willing, whether that's just for sex, or to actually play with more hardcore things. No matter how hard it is for you to believe, having the choice makes all the difference."

The blond just seemed unsettled for a minute before asking, "It's really possible to feel pleasure when someone causes you pain?"

"For some people, or in the right circumstances," the brown haired man agreed. "And you may never want to—that's completely fine. But I won't have the same kind of pleasure without it, so you would doom me to mediocrity at best if you took away my right to choose to have someone whip me or cut my skin—that's all effectively foreplay to me, when I've chosen my partner. Choice, Verde, is actually what BDSM is based on, and even Balto adheres to it. And frankly, 'choice' should be a much bigger part of a lot of aspects of people's lives, and it currently isn't. How many bad relationships between ordinary people do you know about, all because 'choice' was discarded on one or both parties' sides?"

After a moment of thought, Verde admitted, "Lots. It's just...thinking about someone whipping you..."

"Sends you into flashbacks of your less than stellar past," Lakis finished, and the blond Turk nodded. "In all honesty, that means you've never dealt with what happened back then. Probably, you did what most people do—you got away from it, then tried to pretend it hadn't happened and ignored it completely, other than when the flashbacks hit. It's a common reaction, but it also means you never healed...And changing other people isn't going to _help_ you heal, Verde. You can only heal by facing it and choosing to set it aside so it doesn't control you anymore—so she, and they, can't control you anymore. Though the violence you react to slavers with is understandable now, and I don't actually care if you keep reacting to them that way—I don't like the slave market either."

"...Minerva said it can be helpful to people...How?" the blond asked suddenly, obviously feeling that couldn't be true.

Lakis returned to his view of the water, brushing his hands through his hair to push it back from his face. "I once met someone whose mind was so screwed up it was literally disconnecting from his body and he was going blank. He almost walked out onto the street into oncoming traffic without even realizing it—and the only thing that brought him back to reality was when I gripped his wrist hard enough to bruise. It didn't take me long to realize even just the sensation of being bound was forcing him to ground back in reality. We actually never experimented with any kind of sexuality—all I did was use what I knew to ground him so he could work through what was wrong. When he was finally stable again, he went his own way and has been living a productive life since."

"Wouldn't a counselor have worked?" Verde asked in surprise.

Shaking his head, the brown haired man replied, "How, exactly, do you counsel someone whose mind isn't _there_? How do you even have a discussion with them?" He shrugged and added, "But I'm not a counselor and I don't know much about that field of study, despite all my reading and research. I had to ask Doctor Crescent for advice on how to handle that aspect, since I was the only one currently capable of grounding him."

"Couldn't someone else in that—lifestyle—have done so?"

"If he would have let them close to him, likely. But it wasn't them who first grounded him, or who he attached himself to as someone who could help him. He wouldn't have let anyone else do to him what he let me do because he neither knew nor trusted them. He was just lucky I was the first one to have grounded him, and that I had the resources and the desire to help once I knew what was wrong."

For several long minutes, Verde was silent, but then Nanaki's voice saying, "If you need someone to talk with, I'll listen," attracted their attention. Looking around, they found a soft, orange glow which likely indicated the Moto male down the path and around the bend to the next pool. The words had obviously not been directed at them.

A sigh answered the large cat before Percia said, "I'm not sure how to even formulate my thoughts. What am I supposed to think?"

"...I assume this is about Minerva's request?" Nanaki asked, and Verde and Lakis traded startled looks.

"Yes. I mean—merging with someone else...Doesn't that mean I'll lose who _I_ am?" she asked, and by her tone, she obviously felt torn.

"I don't believe you would, otherwise you wouldn't qualify as her Earthen Champion anymore. Though, since that obviously worries you, why don't you ask her directly when we get there? She _did_ invite you to ask further questions of her," Nanaki pointed out.

"Which still leaves a lot of questions. I almost feel like I don't have a choice because any other option she might have isn't really viable," the eighteen-year-old sighed again, and the two older Turks saw the orange light move and nearly disappear.

"Percia, may I ask you something?" the cat asked.

"Of course," she returned, sounding vaguely surprised that time.

"Would you _ask_ someone to make such a decision if you were unwilling or unable to accept a negative response, or would you simply order, or demand, it be done?" Nanaki asked.

"...Personally? I wouldn't even ask if there wasn't an option. But I also know people who give a false premise of choice when they really don't intend to give one."

At the words, Lakis scowled and got up, marched over as Nanaki was about to answer, and cut in with, "That's just an excuse, Percia, and you _know_ it. Minerva is giving you a choice, and will accept it if you refuse in the end—she would never have praised you for asking for time to think it through if she intended to reject your choice." Both turned to stare at him in shock, and at Verde as he also joined them. He could now see that she was indeed sitting by the pool, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, Nanaki sitting beside her with his tail wrapped around his feet.

"But you can't deny that people do exactly what I said!" she replied hotly once her shock faded.

He crossed his arms and glared at her as he returned, "_People_ do. We're talking about _her_, _not_ about _people_, Percia. And as she said, previously your life depended on that merging, but this time it doesn't. She doesn't want to force on you something you actually have a choice in this time, so if your answer ends up being 'no' after your other questions are answered, she'll move on to the next plan. Which will probably mean she'll have more—a lot more—to say to Verde and me, so we can go back to Midgar and start putting that plan into action. It's called improvising, and she's obviously willing to try it if she's actively already got preliminary alternate plans. _Don't_ base your decision on some thought that you 'don't have a choice'. _You do_."

The others all gaped at him for a moment before Verde offered tentatively, "If it helps, Percia, I actually got the same impression from what she said. I really don't think she'll mind if you say no, she'll just turn more attention to another plan she already has a framework for."

After blinking a few times, she looked away and said, "I'm scared of what will happen if I merge with a being like that. Will I still be human? Will I become a monster? How much power will Zirconaide have if we merge? It would be so easy for so many things to go so wrong. I'm not the same person I was in any of the other scenarios where I had to merge with him, so that could change everything about how we interact."

"So instead of trying to force yourself to accept, acknowledge that you need those questions answered before you can," Lakis told her in a more gentle tone, and she looked up at him again, that time more thoughtful and less troubled. "She _wanted_ you to give it thought because it's such a huge decision. If these are things that are bothering you, trying to make the decision now would only hurt you, Minerva, and everyone else you know. Instead, focus on formulating the questions you need her to answer, and just tell her plainly that you can't make the decision until you have the answers. When you have them, ask for more time to think—we'll be able to wait since we're not on a time schedule. And we still have at least a week before we'll get there."

Her lips quirked a bit and she said, "Okay. Thanks, Lakis."

He gave her a nod, then asked, "Did you want us to go now, or stay?"

She waved them off, looking a little amused, so both older Turks headed for the house where the path to the underground lake was. It was only after Verde and Lakis had stepped onto the first few transparent steps that the blond rested a hand on Lakis' shoulder, causing them both to halt as the brown haired man turned back to Verde, his gaze curious.

After a pause, Verde said, "I can't promise my reactions to Balto will improve much anytime soon, but...I think I'm starting to grasp your point, that what you're doing isn't necessarily torture or harmful. For now...I'd rather not be at odds with someone I have to travel with for the foreseeable future, so...Sorry about being an ass for the last few weeks."

Lakis smiled and pointed out, "You weren't being an ass, you just weren't being sociable. But being able to talk with you again will help, so apology accepted. And _please_ show me how to use those arrays of yours!"

"They're actually Ed's," Verde answered wryly, and Lakis blinked in surprise. "If we're going to have to revert to the other option Minerva had, it might be a good idea for that method of casting to quietly start spreading, though, so I'll fill you in on what I know."

"Of course," Lakis agreed with a nod and eager smile.

The two headed the rest of the way down the stairs and Verde drew the arrays in the sand as he began explaining to Lakis what Ed had left him for instructions. After all, as he told the other man, he'd long since memorized and burned the papers he'd originally been given, so this was what he'd have to resort to. Apparently, however, it didn't work around Reactors, so wouldn't be able to be cast by anyone but Ed in Midgar or the Wastes. Lakis took it all in eagerly with an air of fascination.

FoWD

Sirra was once again sitting at Nightcap enjoying drinks when a light knock came on her table, causing her to open her eyes. She had to admit, she'd let her guard down some in the last month since martial law had been declared and Fuhito had high-tailed it, so she was actually a bit surprised by his presence there. She dropped her feet to the floor, so he sat across from her as she asked, "Why'd you up and vanish suddenly?"

"Business," he replied. "I had an associate to meet to work on a project. As it so happened, that was a good time for me to leave. Still interested in work?"

She raised a brow at his response, but shrugged. "Long as you're not expecting me to start over, sure."

"Oh, your service was fine—better than fine—so I'd never _want_ to start you over. That would just delay things I don't need to delay," he told her in a dry tone. "That was never in question. How have things been going with martial law in place?"

"They've been going," she replied with a shrug. "There's more military folks around, but it hasn't changed much, not even the merc workload, here in the Slums. Heard from a friend there's checkpoints on the Plate where they ask for ID now, and I know they do on the train. Guards at the city gates, too, but with part of the wall not built, they can't really guard it well."

"If your workload hasn't changed, does that mean they're not helping clean things up down here?" he asked in surprise.

She lifted her shoulders in another shrug and said, "I asked one of them that when I saw none of my basic work, like clearing no man's land, was taking a hit. They told me that's not what they're here for, and that it would actually hurt the people living and working here if they started taking our work, so told me to have at—they'd only attack monsters that directly attacked them, nothing more."

His brow rose and he commented, "I never took the Shin-Ra as the type to care."

"Long as I get paid, I don't care," she replied in amusement. "But I sorta think Lady Shinra has a lot to do with our work not being affected."

"And...They don't bother you if you make a delivery?" he asked thoughtfully.

"They know I'm a merc and sometimes do deliveries. Weird as Hellfire having them wave to me in passing, though. Never been stopped. I'm more likely to stop them to ask a question than they are to stop me," she offered. It was true, and she _wanted_ to be in his good books so he'd let his guard down.

"That's interesting," Fuhito smiled that borderline creepy smile again. "You very neatly set yourself up to be ignored, even if you're carrying illegal goods. I'm impressed. And it will make our lives much easier in the long run." He put a very thin package down on the table for her, along with an unmarked envelope. "The address that goes to is in the envelope, along with your pay. As long as it gets there by noon tomorrow, we're good. It's not illegal, but _is_ restricted, so I have no idea how getting caught would go, but with martial law, probably not good. Are you back here tomorrow night, or are you planning to be elsewhere?"

"Do you _need_ me here tomorrow night, or just asking out of curiosity?" she asked in reply, brow raised as she took both the package and the envelope, pocketing the money and keeping the rest in her lap while she waited for his answer.

"You can be or not. I'd have another job for you, but it's not urgent—if you have work in another Sector, it can wait a few days to get to its destination," he told her.

She shrugged and said, "I got work in Six 'n' Seven tomorrow and the day after. I'm expecting the escorts to be pretty long, one all the way out to Kalm."

"Damn, that's a long walk," he snorted in amusement. "Then I'll give it to you when you're back. We're good." He gave a nod and rose, heading for the stair leading down.

Sirra looked down at the package for a moment, then shrugged, set it on the table, and rested her feet on it gently when she returned to her usual rest position. The envelope, she checked for the paper with the address, stuck that in her pocket, and tossed the envelope onto the table. Back to work in the morning, then.

As she was sitting back, the barkeeper approached and asked apprehensively, "Are you sure you should be working for him?"

"It's good pay," she answered. "And for easy work. Should I be? Probably not, but I'm doing it anyway."

"...Why?" he blinked.

"I got reasons, Barkeep," she snorted. "And like you said—it's my lookout. Things'll go however they go."

He sighed faintly and nodded. "All right. I just hope you'll be able to take care of yourself when the shit hits the fan."

"Sure thing," she grinned wolfishly. "I didn't spend a decade training just to get my ass kicked _now_." At his faintly amused smile, she waved him away, and he went.

Several minutes later, Ruluf sagged down in the seat across from her, nearly shoving her feet off the table as he put his head down on it, breathing hard. He was dressed in a white shirt, brown coat, and black denim jeans—she'd have thought it was someone else if his hair wasn't so distinctive. Several others nearby turned to stare in surprise, and she hissed, "What the fuck, 'luf?"

"Got a Cure?" he asked softly, and the pain lacing his voice was obvious.

Dropping her feet to the floor, she cast Cure 3 on him, and to be safe, also cast Regen, just in case there was still more to heal. "Holy Hellfire, what happened?" she asked, leaning forward to touch his shoulder. She felt him flinch.

"Don't ask," he muttered, though at least he sounded a lot less pained.

"Too late, already did," she shot back, and he groaned.

"I forgot there are some groups who hate Corneo's men, and I happened to run into one while investigating something plainclothes," Ruluf sighed faintly. "Without my extra training lately, they'd probably have gotten to kill me before I could've escaped. As it is, I'm still going to have to see a doctor...when I can move again..."

"...How'd they catch you?" she frowned faintly, and noticed Fuhito watching from partway up the basement stair.

"Came up behind me. And dressed like this, I'm well known as 'Russel, the Fastest Guns in the Slums'," he answered, tone sneering, but still pained.

"But you don't work for Corneo anymore," she answered, feeling puzzled. "What would they get outta attacking you?"

"Revenge. I killed a lotta people, Ratri. _Lots_. These guys lost friends and family to me, so it's not even Corneo they want revenge on, it's me, personally," he told her, just sounding tired that time.

She was quiet for a long minute before asking, "Think a drink would help?"

"Maybe. And a place to stay for the night. It was all I could do to get here, knowing you'd be here, too," he sighed.

"You want me to try to carry you?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"Nah, just let me lean on you," he answered, first sounding faintly amused, then letting out a hiss of pain. She cast another Cure 3 on him, but it actually didn't seem to help much, even though his body had taken it rather than rejecting it.

"Fine, but I got work in the morning, so you'll be on your own from that point on," she relented, knowing he was really in rough shape. He nodded, still not lifting his head from the table.

To her surprise, Fuhito made his way over and asked, "Need a hand?"

She made a dismissing motion and answered, "Russ let his guard down, the fucking moron. I got a place for him tonight, but for now, he isn't moving, so I'm just going to get him a drink until he figures he can stand enough for me to help him outta here."

His brow rose and he asked, "The Fastest Guns in the Slums is a friend of yours?"

"Sort of?" she blinked. "Enough that we're not gonna screw with each other, anyway."

Fuhito actually sighed at the words before asking, "How do you even know you both won't get jumped as soon as you set foot outside?"

"Why would we?" she blinked. He pointed at the floor, a rather pointed expression on his face, and when she focused on the floor, she realized why—Ruluf had left a trail of blood for anyone to follow. "...Well, fuck."

"What?" Ruluf asked weakly, trying to push himself up.

"Don't move around, moron," she told him sharply. He stilled, so she looked up at Fuhito apprehensively for a moment, thinking back over what the younger Turk had told her about what he'd escaped from. "He escaped from a group trying to get revenge. I don't think they'd have just given up on getting it because he managed to slip away." Fuhito nodded, and her face set. "How much is it going to cost?"

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "This never happened, you know nothing about the situation or how any of them disappeared—or who may have caused them to. Everything else is business as usual."

She suddenly knew he was going to use them in his experiments and tensed, but her eyes moved to Ruluf and the state he was in...There were odds she wasn't able to face, and having to guard him, too, would be another disadvantage. Finally, she let out a long breath and nodded. "Good," he whispered. "I'll let you know when it's safe to move again." She nodded again, resigned to the decision she'd just made. Fuhito pulled back with a shockingly small smile and headed back downstairs.

"...S...Ratri, what did you just _do_?" Ruluf asked quietly, catching one of her hands and tucking it under his head. Since he still couldn't move, she knew he hadn't caught the by-play, but he still knew something unpleasant had just happened. Though, she suddenly felt annoyed at him using _her_ hand to cushion his head...Yet couldn't really bring herself to pull it away, because there wasn't much else she _could_ do for him right then.

"...I just handed him fodder," she sighed faintly, lips barely moving, still feeling a little ill herself.

"You did...what?" he asked, voice suddenly ill and pained again.

"You left them a trail of blood to follow. And we know nothing further about them," she answered. The barkeeper set a glass on the table, his gaze clearly showing her that he knew she'd fallen into Fuhito's trap. She swallowed hard and asked, "Think you can sit up and drink, Russ?"

He had to struggle, but managed to get upright enough to down the alcohol, then collapsed again—right back onto the hand of hers he'd claimed earlier. "I wonder, am I the 'moron' just now?" he asked her quietly after a minute.

She just sighed.


	75. 73-Close

Close

It had been nearly closing time when Fuhito had returned, coming from the outside door even though Sirra hadn't seen him leave by it. That cinched it—there was another way in and out of the building, and she doubted the barkeeper knew about it, as he'd looked surprised by the man's re-entry as well. By then, Ruluf had recovered enough to walk with help from her, and they'd made their way out and to the merc residence in Sector 2. In the room she usually used there, she'd laid him down, and found some of the other mercs offering her a hand to take care of him. What annoyed her was that they all seemed amused by her predicament.

Out in the hall, after she'd picked up a few things to munch on, one of the others—another woman—stopped her to ask, "So, as much as we know he's only here right now because he's hurt—you and Corneo's hitman?"

"Ex hitman," she replied in annoyance. "And he's really just—not quite a friend. He got into shit earlier and the only one both near enough and who he trusted enough to come to for help was me."

Her brow rose as a couple other mercs further down the hall snickered, one of those a guy. "And you were willing to take the risk of being hunted down with him for helping him? That's not 'bare friends', Ratri."

She was _so_ tempted to tell them about Fuhito, just without giving his name, but she also realized he was effectively testing her. While she could count on Ruluf's discretion, she couldn't count on other mercs following suit, and it would spread if she said anything. Her gaze turned in the direction of her room as she realized she didn't completely regret letting Fuhito have at them, even knowing what their fates would be, which was actually somewhat mind-boggling. Torture and experimentation still weren't things she went in for, but...Under the circumstances, and what they'd done to Ruluf—which had amounted to torture by his injuries...Six of one, half a dozen of the other. If one torturer would take care of another for her...Why not?

Apparently she'd been quiet for too long, and the woman she'd been talking to grinned and said, "Don't worry, we'll take care of your boyfriend until he's fit to be moved."

"Wha...?" she blinked in shock, turning her gaze back to the other woman, then glared and growled, "He's not my fucking _boyfriend_!"

All three of the others in the hall out-right laughed at that, so she just began muttering curses under her breath and went back to her room, slamming the door (had she really left it partly open when she'd left?) behind her. Ruluf, laying on his side on the bed, had a vaguely amused expression on his face, making her glare again and vocalize several more swears. Which incidentally made him laugh—and in turn caused him pain and produced a resulting 'ow' from him.

"Sorry, but...is it so bad they think I'm your boyfriend? They won't actually question my presence in that case, right?" he asked. "And chances are, that will spread. A lot of things would apparently 'fall into place' for a lot of people if that becomes the mercs' worst-kept secret."

"Mercs don't keep secrets," she muttered, still sounding disgusted. "And I've never had one before, so why now?"

"Because ten years ago, I wasn't someone you could have respected, Sir," he answered plainly. "But when you think about it, we use the same weapon and type—everyone knows both of us are dual gun wielders—and we both fit in the top of our class. All it would have taken is one incident where we fought back-to-back for us to find the other 'interesting enough' to want to get to know. The two of us know we aren't like that—if anything, I'm more like your younger brother—but for them, it would 'clear up' a lot, especially after you clarified for them that I'm not Corneo's anymore. They might even think I left his employ because of a chance meeting with you."

She sighed, then sat in the chair near the window and asked, "Ruluf...Is it wrong of me to not be completely torn up over handing your attackers to Fuhito?"

"I don't know that there's much difference between them and him, honestly, Sir," he replied with a sigh. "Maybe we didn't want to give him more ammunition, so to speak, but ultimately...One for the other, and one less threat to worry about, isn't actually bad odds. And yes, they _did_ actively and deliberately torture me, for the sake of doing it, and had plans to do the same to others, some of those just civilians they had 'taken a liking to'. Even what bad might come from it, I don't think it's changed our situation enough to need to feel regret or guilt."

"...I don't like it, but I was just thinking about that, too," she sighed.

"I know."

"I also think I'm being tested."

"Tested?" he blinked, shifting to open his eyes and look at her.

"I've sort of been able to get a feel for Fuhito and the way he does things. He gave me just enough to be able to guess what would happen to them, but not enough to give details. If the patrols start poking around, he'll know I had to've told them, because even _you_ didn't hear anything. But, if no one does, then he knows he has effective control of me as long as he pays me, and I'll let him do whatever the fuck he wants without questioning it."

"Will that mean he'll trust you, or just that he'll see you as a puppet?" he asked in an apprehensive tone, letting his eyes shut.

"I question him too much for him to take me as a puppet," she shrugged. "Hellfire, I even threatened to drop-kick him out of Nightcap if he decided to cause trouble. But it should mean as a result that he'll take me as trustworthy. After this, and the advantage he took to further his own ends, it shouldn't be too long now before I can off him. There's only one thing that worries me."

"What's that?" he asked, brow furrowing.

"At the warehouse where Gorgon was, you let them see you. While he didn't get a clear look at your face earlier, he knew you were the Fastest Guns in the Slums, and if he saw your face at the warehouse—"

"He, and they, didn't. They just saw 'a Turk', and probably a man, leaving," the younger man answered. "As long as I'm plainclothes, he shouldn't associate me with the Turks, since I wasn't stupid enough to give them a facial visual."

She breathed a small sigh of relief. "Good call. So, any luck finding their other way in and out? 'Cause now I _know_ they have one."

"I've got a few potentials, but I haven't been able to work out which it is, or if it's all of them. You'll give me as much warning as you can for when you're going to take out Fuhito so people can be in place to hit the Wutains?"

"Yeah, but it's only going to be a ball-park week, not a specific day, let alone an hour or something. He's not predictable enough for that. But, at least it'll give people time to get into place to react when the Wutains decide to cut their losses and attack in force."

"Just a thought, but do you have the addresses he keeps having you deliver to? We could probably arrange to have more people in those areas, since I'm pretty sure the remaining terrorists will attack at the same time the Wutains do."

Sirra thought about that for a few minutes, then sighed and found a piece of paper and a pen to write down all the ones she remembered. She then went back through the list, visualizing the places he'd sent her to, and added two more to it. When she checked the one she had in her pocket, it was already there, so in total, there were seven places she'd been delivering to. With Nightcap, that made eight. And it made one in each Sector.

"Well, that's not at all creepy," she commented in a sarcastic tone.

"What is?" he asked curiously, opening his eyes again to look at her.

"Hadn't especially thought about it before—merc, right, so no major thinking—but he's given me delivery places, one in each Sector if we count Nightcap."

"Hmm..." the younger Turk murmured thoughtfully. "Maybe that's why they're so hard to track. Leave me the list, and I'll get it to Lady Shinra, Vincent, and Verdot."

"Sure," she agreed, folding it and putting it in his jacket pocket, which was hanging over the back of her chair right then. "You should rest, though."

His lips quirked and he gave a small nod, then closed his eyes again as the two lapsed into silence. She heard his breathing even out not too long after and gave a faint sigh as she turned her gaze to the window, watching the few nighttime stragglers making their way home or to wherever they were staying. It was around four in the morning by then, and she realized she'd be lucky to get three hours of sleep before her first escort over in 6. Well, what was left of it. She slumped in the chair and closed her eyes, mentally setting a waking time for seven-ish that morning—and quickly joined Ruluf in sleep.

FoWD

It wasn't too long after breakfast that day when Lady Shinra stopped by Kariya's to update Ed on the progress of the destruction of the Jenova Crystals. At that point, most of the central map had formed a type of grid, and it had begun extending up into the northern continent. Vincent and Kariya spoke quietly in the living room while Carbuncle explored the room and Lady Shinra rolled out the map onto the kitchen table while Ed watched.

"So, what do you think of the newest additions to this?" she asked the blond teen, even as his eyes scanned over it and a frown creased his brow.

"I think this is one of the times I'd probably already know the answer if I had Libby to use to compare energy maps," he answered, tone a bit sour, but ran his hands over the map, fingers tracing a few obvious lines.

"Are they following the paths of the Lifestream?" she asked, deciding it was time to dig deeper. She then blinked as Elicia jumped onto the table, pulled the box of Mastermind pegs over to her, and began using them to create a colorful pattern on the table beside them. Carbuncle joined her soon after, and the two small creatures giggled quietly to one another while they played.

"Yes. No." Ed said both words while looking very puzzled, then blinked and said, "They're in the same pattern, but in opposite pla—" He cut himself off as his eyes went wide in surprise. "...She's disrupting the entire energy grid of the Planet..." he breathed.

"I beg your pardon?" the woman asked in surprise.

"Sorry, I mean...What we've got on this map is the Jenova Crystals, so we actually could map every one of them now, with what's here." He paused and turned to look at Kariya, asking, "Do you have any pens that aren't black or blue ink?"

The man in question turned to look at him in momentary surprise, but he got up as he said, "I think Shelke left a few colored spares behind a few days ago. I'll check."

It didn't take long for him to retrieve a few random-colored neon pens, so Ed took the green one rather than the yellow (which wouldn't have shown well on while paper) or the orange. With it, he began drawing a secondary grid on the map, which had points in a grid pattern exactly opposite (and between) the ones which denoted the Jenova Crystals. He didn't need long to finish it, and because he knew the Lifestream flows very well, he also knew he had them right. He then used the orange to circle the current general ranges of the Reactors.

"So, the green is where the Lifestream flows," Ed said. "But, the Reactors have sucked all the energy out of the areas around them, so I circled them in orange—in theory, there's no Lifestream there. The original black lines are the ones for the Jenova Crystal locations." He paused and made a motion at the map. "Imagine taking the existing points for the Jenova Crystals and extending the pattern to the oceans and small islands the travelers haven't gotten to, all linked in the same sort of grid the Lifestream is in."

"It's effectively a duplicate, but offside of the original Lifestream flows," Lady Shinra commented cautiously. In all honesty, it looked like a grid of interlocking triangles, but one now crossed by another grid of interlocking triangles.

"In theory, if the Reactors didn't exist, or if the other grid wasn't being held by physical objects, the two grids would exist in balance. If they did, they would gradually negate one another and we'd still be screwed, but neither Jenova nor Minerva would gain power from it. In this case, because the Jenova-made grid can exist in places the Lifestream can't, it's slowly overtaking it, causing it to destabilize. If it destabilizes too much, it could tear the world apart, or give Jenova total control of it so she could just utterly destroy it. I think you need to send someone to check on the sites which were first cleared to be sure nothing's been put back in those places," the blond explained.

"There is a possibility of that," she agreed, not liking what she was hearing. "How does the destruction of the Jenova Crystals affect the situation?"

"By removing the anchors, the grid can't form. That's why I think she'd have started trying to put them back by now," Ed told her. "So what she's currently got is anchors only in some places—deep oceans—and none on land, unless she's been replacing them. The only way to stop that is for all of the Jenova Crystals, and their source at the Northern Crater, to be destroyed so monsters can't put them anywhere, even if she tries to instruct them to. If Percia can't—she should be talking with Minerva about what she wants to do soon—then I'll have to finish destroying the Crystals and the grid."

"So destroying them has indeed been the best move?" Lady Shinra affirmed.

"It has. I always knew that part, but had no idea what she was planning until now. And please tell Percia that she isn't supposed to base her decision on destroying the Crystals, because I can do that if she doesn't want that burden."

Lady Shinra sat back at the words and commented, "Of course I can pass the message on, but you're going to have to explain to me what 'decision' she's supposed to be making."

"_Oh, that's the one about her merging with Zirconaide and becoming the one who purifies the world,_" Carbuncle threw in, making all eyes go to it. "_In the past dimensions, Zirconaide was attached to her arm, so they had to merge to save her life. This time, he's not, so she has to decide if she wants to merge with him anyway or just keep herself for herself. Minerva's next decision on what to do will depend on her answer, but she has other options. If Percia says no, she's going to be depending on Ed, and on you, to enact those options in the event that she needs to resort to them._"

"I see," the woman commented, then faced Ed again and asked, "And that's why you need her to know there's no need for her to include the Jenova Crystals in her decision." The blond nodded, and she asked, "And you won't be over-reaching yourself to do this task if Percia chooses not to merge with Zirconaide?"

"I'm fine," he replied, feeling vaguely amused. "Don't forget, my skills as a Mage are even more extensive than Genesis', and I have the help of pretty much every Eidolon—free-roaming Summons—out there. All I need to do is ask a local Leviathan for help to get to and destroy the Crystals in the ocean, just to start."

She blinked and asked, "There's more than one Leviathan?"

"There's one the Emperor has a Materia for," Ed clarified. "There are ten free-roamers that I know about, and probably a few others I haven't met yet—maybe even dozens or hundreds of them. Those are the ones who mostly stay in spirit form so aren't generally visible to humans and don't need to do things like eat."

"I see," she blinked. "And...Fuhito has the last shard of Zirconaide?"

"Yes. And I'm sure he has it on him. It needs to be retrieved, because either way, Percia can't merge with Zirconaide without them all. If she chooses not to, Minerva will tell me to dissolve all five shards so a new Materia can form, but it won't form fast enough to be useful, so we'll need to go with her plan B."

With a nod, Lady Shinra agreed, "We'll see about recovering it, then. We were thinking about that, anyway, since as you said before, it's dangerous for Fuhito to have them."

"Okay," he agreed. "Anything else today?"

"Are you feeling stable enough to possibly want your own apartment or a home in the city?" she asked curiously.

He blinked at the question, then shook his head slowly in confusion. "I...don't know."

"Start thinking about it, then. You're recovering well now that you have Elicia, so when you're ready to step out on your own, you can just let any of us know," she offered with a small smile, rising to go. "Come, Vincent, we still have work to do."

"Of course," he agreed, following her from the apartment as Carbuncle landed on her shoulder.

When they were gone, Kariya asked, "Does the thought of living in your own apartment with a door right out into the hall really not appeal to you?"

"...It's not that it does or doesn't," Ed answered with a quiet sigh. "So far, I've mostly been safe here, and it's become familiar. I'm not sure if I'm ready to actually live in a separate place yet, even though I've been recovering a lot with Elicia's help—I can still only handle going out twice or three times in a week. Probably, I'll get there, but I'm not there yet, and I almost think Lady Shinra's getting a bit ahead of herself just because of the amount of improvement I've shown recently."

"Maybe," the older man agreed. "But either way, the choice is yours."

With a faint smile, the blond agreed, "Thanks."

FoWD

It had been about two weeks since they'd been at the City of the Ancients, and in that time, they had needed to manage the northern weather (having two Mages in the group had helped a lot, since they had found and stopped the source of the blizzards), find some Jenova Crystals, and track down the vague location data they had for Fuhito's northern base. It had led them down a very old and unused logging road in the snowy mountains and to a facility hidden under the snow.

A facility which had been recently used, and which was now, apparently, empty.

Well, not quite, Lakis had to relent. There was still some equipment in place and the failed results of experiments scattered around, and on top of that, alarm and security systems still seemed to be working. They had managed to slip by most of the alarms, but the place seemed to be deserted, despite its obviously recent use. As he turned down a hall towards the rear of the facility, he heard a voice so slowed to track the source. Soon after, he was close enough to hear it.

"—leaving. I believe this is the last one, and we can head out now," a familiar man's voice said.

A peculiar, gravelly and warped voice replied without inflection, "As you wish."

Slipping silently down the hall and to the open door the voices had come from let him look around the jamb, only to see Hollander as he lifted a large bag, and another man dressed in something like a distorted version of the SOLDIER uniform. In itself, that didn't mean much, but the man in black—wasn't human anymore, he was a grotesque cross between a bird (a raven or crow came to mind) and...a human man's corpse? The _thing_ had black, bird-like wings, a strangely-shaped, beak-like face, Mako-blue eyes, and limbs which seemed oddly bird-like. He also had a handled storage box in one hand.

The winged man bothered him on several levels—even Genesis' wing hadn't left a feeling of distortion or disgust in his mind. But, they still needed Hollander, and he'd rather take him alive than dead, at least until he could answer their questions. Evening up the odds meant putting Hollander to sleep, then seeing what the winged one would be like in battle, though he already knew it would be a tough match at the best of times. As such, he cast Sleepel on the 'good Doctor', then moved quickly behind the wall next to the door and braced himself against it to wait for the winged one to leave the room.

That was when everything went wrong, as he heard a screeching sound and felt a burst of pain in his gut. Looking down at himself, he could only stare as he tried to process the fact that a sharp, serrated blade was sticking out through his belly, coming from behind him. The only way that was possible was if...the winged man had somehow shoved his sword through a solid metal, reinforced wall to reach his body. The blood loss and shock was already affecting him, and his whole body felt strangely numb as he lifted his hands to touch the wound gently, smearing blood all over his fingers.

Suddenly, the blade was withdrawn, and he began to sag towards the ground. What forced him into motion was nothing more than the realization that he _really would_ be dead if he stayed there, and the sheer stubbornness to _not just give up_. He threw himself to the side and mentally forced past the pain to run down the hall, only missing being skewered a second time because he stumbled a few steps later. Irony of ironies. He also knew he was too weak to run for long, so cast Fire 3 at the winged man, aiming for his wings, not his body. While the winged man (his mind inserted 'Raven') managed to dodge the majority of the spell, the edges of it—which had a substantial width at the third level—caught the ends of them and forced him to stop to put them out.

With that time, Lakis ran as quickly as he could (which felt painfully slow with all his stumbling) as he cast repeated Cure 3's on himself until they stopped working. With a serrated blade having caused the wound, it didn't surprise him to find that it couldn't fully heal the wound, and the damage the blade had done to the wall had added quite a bit of damage to his back—and more frighteningly, to his spine. He managed to undo the fatal damage to his body and spine, but not seal the wound, and doing so had used up nearly all of his magical energy as well.

As he reached the end of the hall—and noted that the winged man was pursuing him again—he also realized he wasn't going to be able to get further on his own power, and it was only a quick, instinctive cast of Shield which saved his life. In the meantime, the blow meant to spear his heart hit the Shield and shoved him forward so hard he hit the wall at the three-way crossing hall, then crumpled in exhaustion and pain. His Shield had come down in just _one_ blow. Knowing he wasn't going to last much longer without help, he cast Shield again, gaze moving to the winged man as he launched another attack at him.

"Lakis!" a familiar voice shouted in alarm.

The man's sword hit his Shield, paused, then—against all logic, it kept going, aiming for his neck.

Suddenly, another sword was in the way, catching the winged man's and forcing it to stop, then with a yell, the new blade's holder shoved the winged man's back and moved to attack him head-on. The action brought Percia into his view, which was darkening at the edges, and also forced the winged man to jump back and put distance between him and the woman with the blade in her hand.

"Big Brother Magic!" a familiar child's voice cried in alarm as another, worried woman's gasped, "Oh, no!" Nina and Aeris.

As he felt healing energy flooding his body, and felt his body accepting the healing, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, his vision went dark.


	76. 74-Hidden

Hidden

Through the darkness fogging his mind, Lakis heard Zack shout, "Look out, Percia!" He could hear the clashing of blades, rapid and fierce. It didn't take him long to pick out three distinct fighters—the winged man (which his mind again insisted was a 'Raven'), Percia, and Zack. The clashing of their blades as they fought in an enclosed hall caused echoes of noise which aggravated him and annoyed him, slowly bringing him back to awareness, even as he could still feel a warm sensation from some kind of healing which was working against all odds. His wound had stopped bleeding out and he was feeling stronger, even as the darkness began to clear.

His eyes opened in time to see the winged man dodge past Zack and Percia, aiming for him again—only for Verde to jump in the way, move his hands in an odd rotation...And a massive beam of light shot from them, hitting the winged man head-on and throwing him several yards down the hall, body and wings singed and wounds showing all over his form. Those wounds were healing rapidly, but the winged man was obviously not so easily able to move while recovering. He couldn't help but stare at Verde's back for a moment, then back at the winged man—who launched another attack on Percia and Zack, movements just as fast as they had been before.

That was impossible.

His mind suddenly flashed back to the arrays Genesis had used on Nero, and to the arrays Ed had used to reach Genesis during his burnout, and he suddenly realized those were instructions, and, in fact, both had used very, very similar instructions. But, he also somehow just felt like something had been wrong with the ones Genesis had used, and the ones Ed had used weren't strong enough. A recall of the fact that the Commander had used one of his Summons to help him caused Lakis to hold one hand over the only Summon Materia he owned—Sylph—to ask for help to cast the proper arrays which would defeat the winged man.

Unlike any previous time he'd touched his Materia, he felt Sylph stir and somehow felt the being request the arrays he needed to modify. Picturing them in his mind, he tried to direct the image at the Materia. There was a pause, then several pieces in the arrays changed without their overall form doing so. Fixing those changes in his mind, he opened his eyes and shoved himself to his feet with a grunt, watching as Zack was slammed back against the wall and Percia simply shoved aside so the winged man could attack Verde, who managed to catch the blade on his scythe—only for the scythe to become caught on the serrated blade and hurled down the hall.

At such close quarters, Verde couldn't defend himself.

Lakis leaned his weight on Verde's shoulder, gripping it with one hand, and held his other one forward as he focused on the arrays he wanted, his hand right in the path of the winged man's blade. As the arrays appeared in glowing lines around his wrist, the blade was forced to stop just as it touched his hand, then light flowed from the array and the winged man began dissolving into pyreflies. It only took moments for the process to finish, leaving a small collection of pyreflies to float down to the floor and slowly dissipate.

And in the next moment, Lakis realized how badly he'd just over-reached, collapsing in a dead faint.

FoWD

"...Um...What just happened?" Zack asked slowly as Verde caught Lakis when the brown haired Turk collapsed again.

"Besides him saving our asses, you mean?" Verde asked in wry amusement. Nina giggled at the words, but her face fell quickly.

"Yeah, that," Zack agreed.

They were interrupted by snarling from some ways down the hall and an alarmed shout from a man. When the shout turned to one of pain, Zack and Percia ran for the room the sound was coming from, noting how the snarling was also still coming from there. And where were Alexander and Odin? At least they knew Deneh and Nanaki were outside, so not the cause of the noise. As the SOLDIER and Turk arrived at the door to the room, they realized the source of the snarling was Odin, and the yelling came from Hollander as the black Blood Taste bit him hard on the wrist. To their surprise, Alexander was biting the base of Odin's tentacle, which was probably the only reason Odin hadn't gone for Hollander's throat.

"Odin! Down!" Percia commanded, and after a pause, the monster let go of Hollander, so Alexander let go of the tentacle. Odin curled around her legs, still snarling faintly at the man, who had been reduced to whimpers as he clutched at his injured wrist.

"Hollander," Zack commented, head tipped to the side. "Interesting how we've found you in one of Fuhito's bases."

"He—kidnapped me!" Hollander gasped out in alarm, realizing the two at the door were a SOLDIER and a Turk.

"Funny, but that's not what Mrs. Hewley said," Percia replied flatly. "And frankly, if we didn't want information from you, I'd have let Odin kill you for what you did to him."

"Wait, where's the other man who was here?" Hollander asked, eyes flashing around the room.

"Him? Oh, one of our other companions just reduced him to pyreflies," Zack answered easily, like it had been common rather than shocking.

The doctor's eyes widened in alarm. "A _Raven_ was reduced to pyreflies so easily?"

"Were you expecting a different result when you decided to work against Shinra?" Percia asked, that time feeling curious.

"Ravens are freaks of nature, but they're powerful and feel no pain," he answered almost harshly. "They're durable—or should have been. That's what we were working on here, making them stronger, and we had. That's what I was brought here for—to help make them durable and able to meet, even exceed, SOLDIER and Deepground. Now you're telling me you easily killed one?"

"...You didn't answer my question," Percia replied in an annoyed tone.

"Shinra betrayed me, first!" Hollander shouted. "Why _wouldn't_ I work against them, and hope they fall in the process? I wanted the Ravens to be able to slaughter them! Strip me of everything, will you? You can have it back, because if all's going according to plan, there's already an army of Ravens just waiting to slaughter you!"

"_Is_ all going according to plan now that we're here?" Zack asked with a raised brow.

The other man snorted and said, "The research is already done and the one producing them is still at large. This is a Pyrrhic victory at best. Go ahead and kill me—either way, you're doomed."

The Turk and SOLDIER traded looks, but Verde—who was covered in blood—pushed past them, and held his scythe to Hollander's throat, saying evenly, "If your life means so little to you, we can certainly arrange your death. It wouldn't even be out of place here, thanks to you discarding your failures all over the facility."

The man's eyes widened in alarm and he quickly back-pedaled as he said, "You won't be able to get any more information about what they are or how to fight them if you do that!"

With a raised brow, Verde commented, "Mako and, unless I miss my guess, Fuhito has been playing with magic he shouldn't be playing with. Am I wrong?"

Hollander's jaw dropped and he stuttered, "How—how do you—know that?"

"Oh, we've been aware of his work for some time. The only thing 'new' in the equation is your additions to it, Hollander," Verde stated plainly. "As such, unless you really want to be helpful, you're more use to us dead, where you can't help him any further, than you are alive. And you already know Shinra Company won't care if we kill you, traitor. You were given a chance to build a new life somewhere else rather than just being killed in the first place, and you chose to waste the opportunity. That's on _your_ head, not ours."

After a momentary pause, the man gave a faint smirk and asked, "Are you sure?"

Then, the lights turned red and alarms began ringing all over the facility. Many thumps sounded, some like walls falling and others—were a different sound which made Verde call over the noise of the alarms, "Go check on our ladies, Zack!" His gaze, however, never wavered from Hollander's, causing the man to give another alarmed look.

Zack ran into the hall, only to halt suddenly and call back, "We're cut off from them!"

When a scream echoed through the walls just loudly enough to hear, Verde looked in the direction they'd left the other three in alarm. Hollander took the moment to bolt for one wall, and Verde immediately turned to pounce on him—only for both of them to fall forward into a fairly narrow, dark space as the wall opened up. There was a quick scuffle as Hollander tried to get away, but Verde was obviously done playing around and slit his throat. He then dragged the man's body out of the doorway and moved back into it to scan the space.

"A hidden passage!" Verde called to the other two, and they quickly ran over to join him, followed by Alexander and Odin (who paused long enough to pee on Hollander's back, which produced amused snorts from the three humans). With the alarms still blaring, they weren't inclined to talk much, but they quickly headed down the route leading in the direction of the two ladies and Lakis, hoping they wouldn't be too late to help them.

FoWD

When the alarms had gone off, Aeris, who had been holding Lakis after Verde had passed him off to her, passed him to Nina, having a bad feeling about what was happening. Even as she did, heavy metal doors began sliding into place around them, separating the facility into segments meant to keep intruders trapped. It only took moments for all the doors to slide into place, blocking them down all three halls—they would have to wait for the others to shut down the alarms or something. However, she still felt like they didn't have that long to wait.

As she was rising, she was proven right—

Something shot out of a nearby room and would have struck Nina, if the girl hadn't seen it, screamed, and activated her newest Limit Break form—a drain shield, which pulled life off the attacker every time they struck it to heal those protected by it. On the up-side, that gave all three of them healing, but on the downside...Aeris was their only combatant against another of those winged humans. This one seemed more delicate and slender than the first, built for agility rather than sheer power, but it was still male, and she still had the distinct impression that it was somehow an animated corpse.

Quickly, she braced herself between the Raven and Nina and Lakis, expression determined as she planned how to approach the battle she would have to fight alone. There was a good chance she'd have to make it fast, but she wasn't a Sentinel, so she would have trouble taking that route—the arrays Verde and Lakis could use weren't in her arsenal. However, as they had been finding Materia, they had been dividing it up, and that had included things like Phoenix, Odin, and Alexander. Since she could only pick one, she made an instant decision as the Raven launched another attack, this time on her.

"Alexander!" she called, and before the Raven could hit her, it got slammed into the ground by a giant, metal fist. With the attack forcibly halted, she began casting first Ice, which she actually aimed at the ground under his feet as he rose so he was forced to stay still and try to break the ice which formed around them. It wouldn't last long—magical ice never did—so she immediately began casting Comet. He wasn't quick enough at breaking the ice to dodge the spell, but she found herself stunned that he could keep moving even then.

How could she beat him if he effectively couldn't die?

The Lifestream told her something which amounted to, _"Off with his head!"_ and she suddenly felt giggles coming on at the reminder of an old, childhood story she'd liked once upon a time. Still, how could she take his head off?

He attacked her and she exchanged several blows with him, staff to sword, until she muttered (which couldn't be heard with the alarms still blaring), "Of course! I'm an idiot." Then, she intoned, "Odin, I need a head removed from a corpse to kill it!"

There was a thundering sound as she kept fighting the Raven with her staff, then she found a hard, metal-plated arm around her waist yanking her back, only for a blade to slice through the Raven's neck and his head to go flying. Twisting to look, she found herself looking at a man in black armor who rode on a white, six legged, hoofed mammal, and he was holding her off the ground. After a moment, he apparently decided the Raven was dead, so put her down and vanished.

She also eyed the Raven warily for a moment before turning to look at Nina and Lakis, the latter of whom was still unconscious and the former who was looking at her in awe.

"Aeris!" three worried voices called over the noise of the alarm. It was really starting to get annoying hearing the alarm, she reflected.

"Here!" she yelled back, and soon after, Zack and Verde had joined her. They stared at the Raven's corpse for a moment, then Zack quickly lifted Lakis and they all retreated to the hidden passageway, which did eventually lead them outside. It was a relief for them all to only be able to hear the alarm faintly.

A very worried Deneh and Nanaki met them, both asking in alarm, "What happened?" The others could see the remains of some pretty powerful monsters outside, so weren't at all upset they had left the pair outside to keep their retreat clear.

"...I think we have to go back to Icicle Inn to rest, rather than proceeding forward," Zack commented, looking down at the brown haired man he was carrying. "We can trade notes there, once Lakis is in a doctor's hands for care."

"That's probably a good idea," Verde agreed with a sigh. "And we need to warn Lady Shinra about the Ravens, because I have a bad feeling the rest are already in Midgar."

"That's a good point," Percia agreed tiredly. "Let's go, then."

Deneh and Nanaki led the way back to Icicle Inn while Nina rode on Alexander's back, Odin stayed close to Percia, and Zack carried Lakis. Verde sometimes helped the two large cats as they went, but otherwise, the others just silently followed the ones in the lead. In town, they stopped first at the doctor's, and he set to work immediately on trying to undo the rest of the damage, what little ended up not being healed by Lakis' own spells or Nina's special healing. In the meantime, the others went to the Inn to settle in and share stories, but Verde put in a call to Lady Shinra to fill her in.

FoWD

Groaning faintly, Donnel came to in a dark space which smelled like dust. He had the throbbing in the head which he knew meant a head injury, but otherwise didn't seem to be injured or bound. Not sure where he was or the situation he was in, he tried to think back to the last things he remembered before apparently ending up unconscious. If any of his memory served him right, he hadn't been attacked—at least, not in the way someone would typically attack another. Also, it would be unlikely he'd have been left unbound if he'd actually been attacked, so it was more likely this had been accidental somehow.

Oh, right, he'd been in the Archives, hadn't he? Then, he'd gone to the back of the room to check more folders for their case, and...There had been a book on the floor which he'd tripped on, and fallen into the shelf beside the wall. Rather than hold firm, it had collapsed through the wall, and he'd fallen—not flat, but _down_. First, books didn't belong in the Archives room. The space was for old company data—file folders and documents—not books, since it wasn't a library archive. Then, there was the fact that the wall apparently hadn't been made with a solid frame, which probably meant it was a planned hidden door. The whole thing had happened both smoothly and silently, and that particular shelf was always especially sparse on the folders and such on it.

The throbbing in his head had mostly receded by then, so he slowly sat up, trying to get a feel for the space. There were no windows, and apparently no other doors, so there were no sources of light. On the other hand, if he could find a wall, he could get a feel for the size of the space without it, but it felt like the same kind of inner-building rooms found all over Shinra Headquarters otherwise, not something actively set up for a special purpose. Though, any hidden space in a building had some sort of purpose, but this was nothing like the room Kariya had been kept hostage in. It was far more likely he'd found something for some sort of hidden filing purposes...

Maybe all the data missing from the files in the Archives? It would make sense.

Pulling out his PHS, he opened it to activate its light and shone it around the room. Shelves and filing cabinets. If the cabinets were like the shelves, they were fairly full. Getting slowly to his feet as a bit of dizziness hit him, he made a circuit of the room, and quickly found nothing which qualified as a door. Because part of the room was two stories high and there was a very conveniently-placed pillar with something that looked like a light switch on it, he thought that would activate the bookshelf to take him back to the Archives room.

Sure enough, when he flipped the switch from up to down, the wall opened and the shelf dropped down, the top just touching the floor and the whole thing angled a lot like stairs. Flipping the switch up again returned it to its proper position in the room above. Sighing, he chose Verdot's number in the list in his PHS and let it dial, knowing the one who actually had open access to a hidden space was Verdot. Also, if the person moving files, or parts of files, found everything gone, he'd never find it with Lady Shinra if it was with Verdot, who had it all in their space on the Turks' offices floor.

"Donnel, is something wrong?" the man asked, sounding faintly alarmed. Yes, he knew he was calling during the man's off hours.

"I think I just found where all the missing data in files has been moved to," he replied. "And the best place to move it all to and have it not be found is our hidden space."

For a moment, the man was silent, then he asked, "Where are you?"

"The entrance is in the Archives room, but the storage room itself is on the floor below that, in a space which can only be accessed from the Archives," he explained. "Unfortunately, I found it by falling into it and ending up unconscious. How can we do this to move everything without being noticed?"

"Give me a minute..." the older man muttered, drifting off into thought. Finally, several minutes later, the man asked, "Were you injured when you fell?"

"I think I have a minor concussion, nothing more," Donnel replied, wondering why that mattered.

"Maneuvering the entryway will be hard on you at the moment?" the man asked.

Blinking, the younger man paused, then admitted, "Probably. Getting up earlier made me dizzy, and I apparently preferred to stay in a pitch-dark room than to try to walk up what serves as this room's stairs."

"I'll make the arrangements for this to go unnoticed, but we'll have to do it tonight. Wait there until someone can help you back to our offices, where you can help sort them for us on that end—no further ups or downs once you're out of there. Which shelf is it?" Verdot asked.

"In the back left corner of the room from the door, the one that's nearly always empty. Earlier—when I fell—there was a book on the floor opposite the shelf," he offered.

"I think I know which shelf you mean. We'll see if there's a book there. Rest for now—that data isn't yours to worry about right now. Did you drop anything when you fell?"

"Everything I was carrying, including folders, a notepad, and a pen. I don't think any of those ended up in here with me, otherwise they'd have been on the floor. Though, they may have landed on the shelf. Probably, though, they're just on the floor outside."

"I'll see you soon, then," Verdot told him. "Take care until then."

He then hung up, so Donnel slowly made another circuit of the room, looking for anything to warn them about. It's not like there was any place to sit properly, and he didn't want to try to get up from the floor again. All he found was that two of the cabinets were locked, and he wasn't really one for picking them. Everything else was easy access, so he just made note of the two locked ones. He then returned to the wall nearest the descending shelf and leaned on it as he put away he PHS.

In the end, he was left waiting there for another half-hour before the shelf dropped down and Verdot and Doriss stepped down. The older man said, "Donnel, you and Doriss will be leaving here with your folders—you had so many it would have been feasible to say you asked her for help to carry them all—and going back to the office. That part will be recorded. People will be handing you two things on that end, but you aren't to leave the office again until the end of your shift. The book, by the way, is the lever which opens the door from up top. I'll leave you in Doriss' care for now."

"Two of the cabinets are locked, both over in that corner," Donnel told the man, pointing to where he'd found them, and Verdot nodded, then called, "Derin, there are two locked ones you can start on right away!"

"Sure thing," the black haired man agreed as he slipped down past the three of them, got pointed in the right direction, and went to work.

Doriss then helped Donnel up the shelf-stair (and he stumbled more than once from dizziness, so he was thankful for the hand) and the pair collected his things as the other Turks with the Hounds descended into the room. Well, excluding the ones who weren't there right then, like Sirra, Anki, and Reno, though the latter two were due back soon. When they had everything, Doriss took half the stack and they made their way tiredly from the Archives to their office. It was only there when they realized Tseng was still there, as he opened the hidden door from the hidden side as they were entering the office.

"There's a room two down on the right where we can store this paperwork," he told them. "I moved things out of it which were better suited for other rooms, which leaves some existing shelf space, but I'll need help moving a few more unused shelves into there from other rooms as well."

"I'll do that," Doriss agreed.

"I'll help, too—I just have to be careful of how I move," Donnel added, letting them know it wasn't a serious injury.

Tseng eyed him for a moment, then nodded. "Let's get started—the others will be bringing the first round to us soon."

It didn't take them long to move two shelves (they were in the room across the hall from the one they were going to use) into the room, which gave them the space to put the first few rounds while they worked on moving other shelves into the room. As they were sorting the fourth round onto the shelves, Donnel asked, "How are they going to cover this up?"

"By making the cameras on this path run on a loop for the night, until they're done," Tseng answered. "Derin set it up, and has been monitoring it since anything he needed to unlock for us on short notice was seen to."

"Then it's good I'd already found the two locked ones and he could go right to them," the red haired man smiled wryly.

"That would have helped, yes," Tseng agreed in mild amusement. "Otherwise, they'll have the record of you and Doriss leaving, nothing else until normal feeds are restored. Since Derin knows how to run 'smooth feeds', there won't be a slight glitch to indicate something may not be quite right."

"And in the meantime, we'll be able to go through this at our leisure," Donnel agreed.

"We'd better get back to moving shelves while we can," Doriss cut in dryly, rising as she set her last folder on the bottom shelf. The other two hurriedly placed theirs and followed her. It was going to be a long night for them all.


	77. 75-Opportunity

Opportunity

Regular training was boring, Rosso reflected with a faint sigh. So many members of Deepground were away on patrols that the usual number she had to fight to get any sort of challenge just weren't there. On top of that, she wasn't the only one who needed to train. Maybe it was time for her to take a page out of Weiss' book and ask to take part of her training sparring in the main building? After all—strangely enough—the SOLDIERs had been harder to beat than a whole regiment of Deepground members were. Weren't Deepground supposed to have been designed to trump SOLDIER? And the skills of the Turks had surprised her, too.

What was so different between Deepground and the main company combat forces which allowed individuals to be so much stronger?

Well, no, 'strength' wasn't necessarily the right phrasing to use for it. She'd be more inclined to call it real skill. Unlike most of the others, she—and Weiss and Argento—had noticed how the SOLDIERs and Turks had been rather deliberately using ring-outs to end matches. And to complicate matters further, she was _sure_ they had deliberately planned bad pairings, with only Genesis and Nero having been properly paired. It would have been impossible for those statistics to happen without them having done it on purpose.

They had _planned_ the whole damned thing to make it _look_ like the President had power...?

With a sudden chuckle, Rosso found she suddenly had a whole lot of respect for Lady Shinra and for her ability to turn things in her favor. Also, hey—there were far too few women in power as it was, and part of how hard she'd pushed herself had been a desire to make people acknowledge a woman's strength, _her_ strength. She had never grasped Argento's desire to work in the background, but when thinking back on Lady Shinra's actions, she was starting to see how hidden power could be a boon. By extension, both Lady Shinra and Argento had a lot more power than anyone even realized, and Lady Shinra's wasn't even personal combat power! Though, she had a feeling the woman still had some real fight in her.

"Rosso, keep your mind on your battle!" the Restrictor watching over her training—their leader, apparently named Veld—called to her sharply.

With a sigh, she returned her attention to her sorry excuses for opponents.

Not long after, she found another distraction in the form of a second Restrictor joining the first to ask in irritation, "Why won't you let us just order them to enforce their power?"

What was _that_ all about?

"It's too soon," Veld answered bluntly, tone cold.

"When will it _not_ be too soon?" the other asked, and she wondered briefly if the two of them would actually get into a fight. Tensions between the leader and the other Restrictors had been rising since Deepground had been revealed to the public, but it had practically sky-rocketed once martial law had been declared.

"When people are actually ready to accept this as the normal state of affairs," Veld replied, his voice taking on a hint of exhaustion. Had they had this discussion before? "Right now, they're not, and harming them will cause outrage and definite problems for the President. He's not in a mind to just send us out on a mass slaughter, so we also have to restrict ourselves and our members to proper, civilized behavior. And if this state is allowed to last long enough while the people are willing to at least have it in place, we may not even need to resort to those methods. That would be a point in the President's favor for keeping control once he has it."

"Forced control would be a lot easier and faster, and let our members vent," the other Restrictor replied coldly. "And power for the President is power, however it's achieved."

"And right now, public opinion matters to him, which negates the 'easy' way," Veld replied. "Rosso, stop getting distracted!"

With a sigh, she charged at her opponents and knocked them all flat in a single spin of her swallowtail blades, then faced him and said, "With all due respect, I _need_ stronger opponents than these. May I request permission to join sparring practices with the SOLDIERs in the main building?"

Both men focused on her for a long moment before Veld actually sighed and muttered, "Everyone _else_ in the Tsviets had made that request, so why not you, too?" He then raised his voice and said, "Very well. But that will also mean staying on your best behavior for extended times—you could only claim an accidental death once. Don't waste it on a fit of temper or your permission will be revoked."

"Yes, Sir!" she agreed with a happy grin. "Shall I head up now for the remaining two hours of today's regular practice, then?"

"Go on," he agreed. She headed for the door as Veld turned back to the Restrictor beside him and said bluntly, "Right now, this is still a political game, and trying to take power by force will make powerful enemies the President doesn't want. The time will come to act, but that time isn't now. Even the President agreed with keeping Deepground in line for the time being, because we need subtlety, not open dominance. Feel free to ask him again if you like. In the meantime, we stay this course."

The Restrictor spun on his heel and almost charged in the direction where the door was, so she quickly exited the room and stepped off to the side. The Restrictor stormed past her a moment later, making her glad she'd moved, but since it seemed the show was now over, she resumed her course to the lift which would take her to the main building.

But really? The Restrictors were divided in such a way? Frankly, if what Weiss had explained to her about tactics was true, Veld was taking the right actions to arrive at the desired result, so why would the other Restrictors be against that?

Well, there was nothing she could really do about it, so she turned her mind to her new potential sparring partners—and grinned. Finally, a challenge awaited her!

FoWD

Stroud sat tiredly in the corner of the training room, staring down at his twin daggers on the floor in front of him. When he'd agreed to join the Turks, he had never imagined a situation like the one he'd gotten caught in, and part of him wanted to blame the Turks, the fact that he'd chosen them instead of SOLDIER. The reality, however, was that he could have, and probably would have, encountered the same kind of situation as a SOLDIER, it just might have come at a different time. Yes, he'd seen a huge improvement in his own abilities from having trained with the Turks, but it had come at a cost.

Every time he drew his blades, he flashed back to the shop, the attack...the people he'd seen tortured, the people he'd killed, the unarmed civilian he'd attacked in that moment.

Every time he drew his blades, he couldn't use them, even in a training practice.

When he'd first gone to see Doctor Crescent, she had asked him to explain to her what had gone on, promising that he wouldn't need to repeat it once he'd gotten it out. So, he had. The first thing she'd done was asked him to draw his blades, which had left him feeling confused—his weapon had nothing to do with his current situation. But, she had asked that he do so, and he wasn't sure he had the oomph left to question why, so he'd just done it.

Only to find his hands freezing when they were closed on the hilts and had just begun to draw them.

At the woman's shrewd look, he had realized he couldn't draw them, the mental damage ran so deep. She had since been working with him to get him to the point where he could draw them, and that had already been weeks of steady work. He'd otherwise been restricted to office work or to working on his projects, like the one which had alerted him to the danger in the first place. Since it was actually now done, he'd been making copies for the Turks and Lady Shinra, using that as a means to distract himself from everything else. While he hadn't been restricted from training, just from actual field missions, he'd encountered another problem.

Being able to _draw_ his blades didn't mean he could _use_ them. And every time he drew them, as soon as his intent was to fight another human with them, his arms would go limp and fall to his sides, and his hands would release the blades, dropping them to the floor. Actually, even that was an improvement, because when he'd first intended to used them on a practice dummy, he hadn't been able to, but now he could at least strike inanimate objects like punching bags or practice dummies. But he still couldn't spar, and he needed to be able to if he wanted to keep improving his skills. Which, admittedly, he wasn't sure he wanted to do just then...

Someone sat quietly beside him, making him glance up—and stare in surprise at Ed! What was _he_ doing there? A glance around the room showed him Commander Rhapsodos, Shelke, and Yufi with some of the others sparring then, and Elicia was poking around in a nearby weapons rack. So...this was one of his outing days?

"...You can't use them, can you?" the older blond asked, and Stroud sighed, knowing he meant the daggers at his feet.

"I don't expect you to understand," he sighed. And didn't realize until he heard a derisive snort that he'd just made a huge mistake.

"Don't I?" Ed asked. "I have Omega-level Turk combat skills. Skills _I can't use_ because I've completely _lost_ my desire to fight. Some of that came from the torture I suffered, sure—I'd never deny that, anyway—but that's not all there is to it. _Believe_ me, I _know_ how much it hurts to be put in a position where _nothing_ is going to work in your favor. And I have a _few hundred years'_ worth of _shit_ to work through, while you only _remember_ about ten. _You_ only have to deal with having killed terrorists."

For a couple long minutes, Stroud could only stare at the other blond as he tried to process the words, only to really get one thing out of it—Ed wasn't giving him pity, he was throwing it back in his face, instead. It was an unpleasant feeling on several levels, and it shocked him to realize part of him wanted to be pitied by others, while part of him wanted exactly what Ed was doing—giving him a wake-up call.

"I also attacked and hurt one of the ones I'd saved, who had been worried about me," Stroud finally settled on replying.

"How badly?" the older asked shrewdly. "And did the person blame you for it?"

"...She didn't," the younger blond sighed, shaking his head a bit. "But I hospitalized her, not fatally or with maiming damage, but...it was bad enough. I still can't work out how I ever perceived her as a threat in the _first_ place..."

With a faint sigh, Ed leaned back against the wall and commented, "Bloodlust isn't the only thing you can react with in a horrific combat situation. It's actually pretty common for someone experiencing it for the first time to get dropped into a fight or flight response so strong the chosen option holds until something forces them to stop. Also, there are circumstances where even old hands on the battlefield will end up in that state. It's not limited to extreme abuse or torture victims, though in the latter case, the response is almost always flight.

"With trained combat personnel, those are _hunters_, and they nearly always choose 'fight'. Cloud—wait, it's Stroud now, right? Anyway, you're a hunter, and you chose 'fight'. The situation was so bad that even what I heard second hand was repulsive, and it would have strained nearly _anyone's_ sanity, let alone the sanity of someone who's never been in such a situation before. By the time you'd gotten half-way through the mess, you were probably not even fully aware, acting purely on instinct. Until you attacked her, you were stuck in that state—seeing everyone as an enemy about to attack you—and only came out of it because she was a non-combatant."

"...I could have attacked the Infantry..."

"Who are combat personnel and would have retaliated, keeping you in that state."

"How do you even know anything about it? You're living all protected and no one actually _does_ anything to you..." Stroud replied, glaring down at his daggers.

"Because I've been on the battlefield, too, before I ended up like this. And I've been sent in as the executioner for experimental subjects so far gone they no longer had souls or awareness. The number of people I've killed, including ones who couldn't fight back, is higher than you could imagine. If I were to compound all the times I've effectively committed mass slaughter, the number would probably be about the same as the total population of the Planet at its peak." Stroud had to gape at Ed in shock as he said that, but the older blond went on, "So yeah, I've been in that state, keeping awareness only by a thread, and needing someone to bring me out of it once the battle was over."

"How do you even _live_ with yourself after doing that?"

"There was no other option for them. That's a simple fact, something I had to adapt to and accept. Knowing the situation meant I had no actual regret for doing so, all I could do was pity them for what they had been made into. Despite not regretting it, I've never liked it, never enjoyed it, and always hoped I wouldn't be forced into that situation yet again. Taking necessary actions and liking it are two different things. What you did was necessary, but you never have to _like_ the fact that you killed, or that you hurt that woman in the process of regaining your sanity afterwards. You just have to accept that you did what you had to do in the moment."

For a long time, Stroud sat quietly and thought about what the older blond had said, then sighed and asked, "How long can I stay a Turk if I can't fight?"

"You're on some sort of medical right now, right?" Ed asked, and Stroud nodded. "Then, you can be a Turk until either you're let off it and choose to leave them, or until the doctor feels you have no chance of recovering. After what happened to you, it would be a long while before that happens, especially if you've shown improvement since being sent to the doctor."

"...None of which will help me fight again."

"No, it won't. You can only do that by working towards it and pushing past the fear. As you've found, that won't happen overnight. What's the trigger?"

Sighing, the younger blond admitted, "It used to be even just drawing them. Now, it's down to the thought of fighting another human with them."

"Hmmm..." Ed murmured thoughtfully, head tipped to the side and gaze absent. "I guess we could try an experiment."

"...What kind?" Stroud asked warily.

"Well, Shield Materia puts up an invisible wall between the caster and an attacker, and physical damage doesn't pass through it," the older blond explained. "So, you might be able to push past that fear reaction if you can see a human beyond the shield—an inanimate object—you're attacking, so you learn to associate attacking when there's a human there with being able to use your weapons."

"...I'm not even sure I still want to..."

"You're not in a mental state to actually make that decision, though."

"What about you?"

"I'm working towards recovery so I'll be able to make those kinds of decisions again, and to know I'm making the right one. But for the record, I can't just leave people to suffer if there's _anything_ I can do to help them. Can you?"

Stroud had to pause to think about that, and realized with a sinking feeling that Ed was right—he couldn't just do nothing if someone was in danger. That was how he'd gotten into the state he was in to begin with. And with the realization came the awareness that he'd have to keep trying to work past the problems which had resulted. It just felt like a very long road while he was on it, and it would be a lot easier to just give up. But giving up meant going back to Nibelheim in defeat, having been proven to be exactly the kind of failure everyone had always deemed him.

"...Do you know anyone who has a Shield Materia?" the younger blond asked curiously and cautiously.

In reply, the older blond smirked and answered, "I can cast it without a Materia. Want to give it a try? After all, the only thing _I'll_ have to do is stand still and let you attack the shield."

After staring in shock for a moment, Stroud managed a faint laugh and asked, "You're okay with that?"

"Sure," Ed agreed, rising. "I've got time, and this gives you a ready-made, and completely safe, target."

"...Thanks," Stroud agreed, managing to retrieve his daggers from the floor and sheath them, then rising to join Ed in the small space near where they had been sitting.

When the older blond beckoned him closer, Stroud first lifted a hand into the space between them to assure himself a shield really was there, and quickly felt the wall of energy, saw it spark with light. It was there, so he drew his daggers and focused on the thought of attacking the shield he knew was in place. A few false swings started the attempt because he could see Ed just past where he was aiming—though at least he didn't go completely limp or drop his daggers, which was already an improvement.

Then, one of his daggers came down close enough to Ed to strike the shield, and was promptly repelled, causing a noticeable sensation within him of something loosening just a bit. He began to be able to strike the shield with his daggers, but only lightly and somewhat infrequently, and it began to feel like he was wading through a deep pool while doing so. The weight and drag was getting to him, and he was still trying to attack the shield, focused just on that, on trying to push past the weight.

Suddenly, a hand caught his wrist and he looked up, focus broken—and saw Ed holding his wrist the same way he'd seen any of the martial arts combat specialists in the Turks do so during training. The older blond was gazing at him steadily, and he still felt weighed down, exhausted.

"Why did you stop me?" Stroud asked, releasing a deep gust of air—and realizing his limbs had begun trembling.

"Because this is all you can handle mentally right now. Right Elicia?" Ed asked, looking to the windowed side of the room. Stroud followed his gaze and saw the little robot sitting on the window ledge.

"Yup!" she agreed. "It's bad to strain yourself too much, you know! Then, it's harder for you to try again and maybe move further forward. If you want to heal, you can't rush it all at once, you have to pace yourself. Anyway, you did pretty good for your first try."

Stroud blinked and stared at her for a moment, then turned back to Ed to stare at him. His gaze drifted to the hand holding his wrist, then he slowly began relaxing and straightening. "...Can I have my hand back, then?" Ed smiled faintly and released it, and Stroud sheathed his daggers, then rubbed his wrist as he commented, "You've got a really strong grip."

"I'm primarily a martial artist," the older blond told him. "When I'm fit to fight, anyway. Go eat and rest. We'll be able to do this again, or I'm sure others have a Shield Materia who could help you with this if you were to talk with your doctor."

"...Yeah. Thanks," Stroud agreed.

He turned to go, pausing for a moment to blink at Rosso and Genesis, who were standing side-by-side and watching the two of them. The older man looked both thoughtful and pleased, and Rosso seemed genuinely curious. But, he didn't really want to answer any questions from them, so he just quickly made his way past the two and to the door. He'd gotten used to seeing people like Weiss around on occasion, but normally he didn't see Rosso here.

Food and rest sounded like good ideas, though, so he headed for the cafeteria first.

FoWD

Ed almost sighed as he saw Rosso and Genesis watching them, but rather than staying where he was, he moved back over to the bench against the wall where he and Stroud had sat before, and sat down there. Elicia jumped to the floor and trotted over to him to climb on his shoulder and purr happily in his ear. As he'd thought, the two red heads approached him, Genesis sitting beside him and Rosso moving over to the window to stand in the filtered sunlight coming through faint clouds and smog.

"So, you were trying to help him get past that difficulty, huh? Would you say it was working?" Genesis asked.

"It did pretty well for his first try. Mental trauma that prevents a person from using their weapons usually takes more than one day to actually be able to start hitting the shield," Ed explained. "And it's no good if he can't fight, because the shit's going to hit the fan soon."

"Why help someone too mentally weak to do the task get past it? That's a lot of time and effort for someone who will always hesitate, isn't it?" Rosso asked, still just looking genuinely curious.

Genesis scowled, but Ed said, "That's what they do in Deepground—just off the ones who aren't already too badly damaged to adapt to the harshness there." It was a statement, but his phrasing made her frown in puzzlement, so he elaborated, "Over ninety percent of the people in Deepground were already some form of psychotic when they were taken there, hence why they could survive in that Hell-hole. You were born there and were already 'damaged' by what you grew up seeing. That doesn't mean some of the people there can't still live a normal life, but it _does_ mean you don't perceive the world the way everyone else outside there does."

He paused to take a breath as both red heads gaped at him in surprise, then went on, "But Rosso, the reality is that a lot of people are strong if they're given the chance to get past a setback or a blockage, and having overcome it usually means they're _stronger_ than they were before. One chance isn't a fair assessment of a person in the real world, and I've never met a Stroud who chose the path of combat who was anything like weak. He had a bad introduction to the sheer cruelty that can appear in the world, but once he gets past it, he won't hesitate—he'll already know what he's doing and why, and _won't_ hesitate."

She was silent for a moment before saying, "Weiss informed me you would be useless to Deepground because you can't fight. You're too broken. On a battlefield, you would be a liability."

"In theory," Ed agreed. "In practice, I can still cast healing spells, which keep my allies alive and well to keep fighting, and I can call multiple Summons at once to help in the battle if I need to. Am I _still_ a 'liability'?"

"How much help are two Summons called with W-Summon?" she blinked in surprise.

He gave her an amused look and said, "I can Summon every known Summon and have them all active at once, on a battlefield. Just—don't mention that to the Restrictors."

"Holy Alexander! How can you even _function_ if you call so many?" Genesis asked in shock as Rosso gaped at him again.

"Just wait until I'm recovered enough to _really fight_ again," Ed answered with an almost-smirk which made the older man snort in amusement.

"...So the definition of 'strength' is more...fluid than we were taught, is what you're saying?" Rosso asked suddenly, like she'd suddenly gained clarity. The blond gave her a nod, and she said, "I want to live in this world one day, find out more about how it really works."

"Then, when the time comes for you to choose a side, without the control chip forcing it, make sure you choose to protect people, and you'll have that chance," he told her, and she blinked, then nodded.

And Ed knew the rest would be in her hands, the choice hers to make when the time came.


	78. 76-Closing In

Closing In

Lakis woke slowly, feeling comfortably warm and rather lethargic. It took several minutes for him to be awake enough to open his eyes and turn his head to look around the room. Doing so revealed a...doctor's office, he supposed, Aeris sleeping in the chair beside his bed, and his uniform draped over the back of another chair. While it seemed to have been at least somewhat laundered, there were still obvious blood stains on it and a hole through his shirt and suit jacket. That reminded him of the hole he'd had in his body and the fight against the Raven, making him lift a hand to probe his belly. It felt like there was some scarring, but it didn't seem as bad as he thought a serrated blade should have done.

"You can thank Nina for healing what you weren't able to, otherwise you'd have bled out before we could get you back to Icicle Inn," Aeris told him, and he looked back at her to see her rubbing tired eyes as she resisted a yawn.

"I knew I'd reached my healing limit, so how was her healing able to keep working?" Lakis asked with a surprised blink.

She shrugged and answered, "I don't know all the technical details, but apparently normal healing uses the body's own resources to work, and when the body uses up all its resources, it can't do any more healing magically. Nina's healing Limit Break isn't using the body's resources, it's using raw Lifestream energy. I couldn't really get more than that—I'm not a scientist or a doctor—but if you really want that clarified at some point, Ed should be able to explain it."

"I see," the man answered slowly. He'd already known healing used the body's resources, hence the limit, but if Nina had an alternate to that...it would have to provide the resources somehow. Could energy do that? Then again, raw natural Mako was keeping Ed healthy, so maybe it adapted its make-up from moment to moment to meet the needs at the time? "How long has it been?"

"This is the third day since we were at the lab. We only got back to Icicle Inn the day after we were up there, and we were all exhausted by then, so we've been watching over you in shifts while the others rested. Well, Nina just comes in and out with Alexander, but even Deneh and Nanaki have been taking shifts," the young woman explained.

"No one else was hurt?" he asked apprehensively.

At the words, Aeris smiled and answered, "Other than Odin biting Hollander and Verde killing him, none of us were hurt. Not even when a second Raven attacked Nina, you, and me while we were cut off from the others."

"What?" he asked in alarm, and she held up her hands in a wait motion.

"Apparently beheading them works, so I asked Odin—the Summon, not Percia's new dog—to do the honors. It worked," she answered. "And Nina's drain shield Limit Break apparently will hold steady through at least one attack, so some of your healing came from the Raven." At the last, she gave him a grin, and he had to chuckle.

"You have an Odin?" he asked curiously.

"It was in a safe in Shinra Manor," she replied in amusement. "Deneh, Nanaki, Verde, Zack, and I have been finding all kinds of rare Materia and splitting them up amongst us. Percia hasn't really wanted any besides the Shiva part way up the Cliff, and we haven't found many besides those since you joined us—we were nearly at the end of our journey by then. We left a couple because no one can get to them anyway, though."

"And you didn't give me Kujata," Lakis answered in mild annoyance.

"We didn't give you a lot of things," she answered dryly, and he blinked. "We didn't know we could trust you yet, either, but I think after what you did back at the lab to save Verde, we can now pass a few things on to you once you can see what all we've found and aren't especially possessive of. For example, even though I have several Summons on me, I wouldn't part with Phoenix, Odin, or Alexander, but Typhon would be a possible Summon you could choose."

His lips quirked and he nodded. "Fair enough. I'm guessing I need to get in touch with Verdot to give him my formal report, since I'm the only Hound Turk here?"

"Yes, you'll have to do that. Verde _did_ put a direct call through to him to let him know you were injured and would be in touch when you had recovered, but otherwise, no one has been in touch with him. Oh, the doctor should be back soon, too. If he says you can return to the Inn with us, you'll have to let us know when you're ready to travel again."

"I'll do that," the Turk agreed. "I don't think we'll be leaving Icicle Inn today, even if I can go to the Inn proper with you. Though, I'll need a change of clothes..."

"Yeah," she agreed, reaching down beside her chair and picking up a bag to set it on the edge of the bed. "We brought one, but that's still sitting there so you can choose what's worth keeping and sort your own stuff. We'll toss, or burn, whatever you don't want."

With a faint sigh, he carefully pushed himself to a sitting position as he asked, "So, where's my PHS, then?" A moment later, she'd pulled it from his old suit jacket pocket and handed to him, making him stare at it for a minute—it had just stayed intact through a lot of shit. Finally, he accessed it (it would need to be recharged soon) and found Verdot's number, mentally bracing himself to give the report he needed to the man. For the first time, he also felt completely fine having Aeris hear his side of the discussion, too, so didn't bother to ask her to leave.

FoWD

Verdot was annoyed at having to go to Lady Shinra's office once again to deal with her. Not because he didn't want to, but because his list of viable excuses was starting to run short, and if he ran out, he would have to stop visiting her so openly—and the President wouldn't accept half-assed excuses. In this case, though, he didn't believe he could send Donnel, both because the younger man would be missing a lot of background data and he had more than enough work with Doriss to do, and he'd rather not take him away from that just then. Tseng would have been possible, but while it was expected for Tseng to visit with Kariya, since having taken up with the Hounds, he'd barely been to Lady Shinra's office, and that would make people question why.

Which, of course, left him. They had a few things to discuss, but really, only two were of great importance to something other than basic Company functions. At least he always had the excuse of visiting Vincent about arranging for Turk intervention in things noted by the martial law patrols, and visiting Vincent would also invariably mean visiting with Lady Shinra. So, despite the annoyance at one more excuse being used, he visited her, at least being thankful the excuse this time could be used more than once.

At her office, he once again saw Carbuncle on top of her chair behind her head, and Vincent was sitting with two other Turks—Freyra and Rude, if he recalled correctly—while they worked on something. "_Hi, hi!_" Carbuncle called to him, drawing all eyes to where he stood at the door. "_Is something wrong?_"

"I need to work out a few investigative missions with Vincent," he said as he shut the door, then faced Lady Shinra. "And I have the complete report on the Ravens for you from Lakis, and a collection of data from the hidden archive room Donnel found for us. It had everything which had been removed from the files—all the missing pages."

"Really?" Lady Shinra blinked. "Where are they now?"

"Hidden in our extra space through my office," the man told her, pulling one of the files from the stack and offering it to Vincent. "That one's the missions we got just yesterday and today. It's going to have most of both factions busy for a few days, and we won't be able to start on them all. I starred two Tseng said felt 'wrong' to him—by his track record to date, that means we probably want those ones to be top priority. I'll fill in Lady Shinra while you're going through them."

"All right," Vincent agreed with a surprised blink, rising to take the folder.

When he sat back down and Verdot's attention returned to Lady Shinra, the older woman said, "We have some reports that these Ravens are different from the basic ones Ed already told us about due to Hollander's intervention. What can Lakis add?"

"One shoved its sword—a serrated one—through a reinforced lab wall," he said bluntly, and her eyes widened. "They're a strange mix of human and bird which doesn't count as shapeshifting, and damaging them is highly temporary before they can move normally again. Their recovery rate is unnaturally high, and so far, there are only two known methods to defeat them—beheading or a method of purifying apparently both Ed and Genesis know. Lakis said he somehow had the feeling that what he was fighting qualified more as a corpse than as a living thing."

The woman reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose as Verdot set that folder on her desk. "I'll see what Ed says about that. Thank you, Verdot. And about the files?"

"Yes, the data which has turned out to be missing from many archived files, even some which haven't reached the archives yet," the man agreed in a flat tone. "It's pretty gruesome, most of it. I made a list of certain information which would be relevant to current missions, as well as ones that fill in some holes. Since Tseng has been going through a lot of that, if you have further questions, he'll be able to clarify. The data on what happened to the first two teams of Midgar's builders is in them—the lucky ones were the first set, who were just killed.

"Most of the second set were experimented on, acting as the effective prototypes for the Restrictors, though they all died in the end. There were records of those experiments and Deepground's development were there, the records of Reactor Zero, and of old, old experiments Shinra Company did. Most of those were the prototypes of the experiments done on the people in Deepground. One other thing stood out to me, that apparently around nineteen seventy-one, the President ordered the Infantry to slaughter all the poor and working poor in Junon?"

She lifted her head to stare at Verdot, asking faintly, "There's a record of more than the terrorist attack on that date?"

He blinked and opened the last folder he carried to pull out several sheets, which he handed to her. She took a few minutes to flip through them, then sighed heavily. "Well, now we definitely have more than just Kariya's word of what happened to him and his family, and why he ended up as the Death God of the Battlefield to start with..."

"So I was right about that," Verdot sighed. "We were all recovering from injuries then, so we had no way of knowing anything else that happened, only what was available in the files. And these details weren't there."

She nodded and said tiredly, "Well, this is a start, and I'm glad we now have the real data to work with. Where has Donnel been lately?"

"Working with Doriss to track just how long Deepground has been interfering in the background and how many dead and vanished people have been working with them," the younger man replied, and her brow quirked questioningly. "I started questioning a lot after finding out he set me up to betray you. Things I hadn't thought much of before began to look...contrived. Because I have an ongoing paperwork nightmare to sort through, even with Tseng's help, I had Doriss and Donnel start finding those pieces. And they've found a lot of them.

"Most of it has been to destabilize people's lives in the Slums and other places so he in turn has more control over them and can do things like hire them for cheaper. But, there have been notable incidences which worked directly against you or which should have given him more power by force, if you hadn't stepped in. Of course, there's things also like with the Turks—even _within_ the Turks. For example, our two most recent asshole abusers, the one from the Guards and the one from the Hounds, were both plants of his to force the divide wider. The one who went after Doriss was even _ordered_ to target her so he could have both tacticians under his control."

"...Does Doriss know that, or was Donnel the one to find it?" Lady Shinra asked faintly in horror. "How did they hide their Mako eyes?"

"She knows, and only decided to set that aside for now because Donnel forced her to spar with him, letting her vent. The two who were planted had been experimental prototypes which hadn't used Mako enhancements, but we ended up killing them too easily for them to keep producing them, though there are probably still a few of them in Deepground's ranks. After our retaliation against them, the President stuck to hiring non-Deepground people inclined to being cruel—Balto had been one of his attempts to push forward that agenda, only it backfired spectacularly," Verdot explained.

Her brow rose at that, and her lips curved in amusement as she commented, "Even though he was choosing for the Turks people I would have chosen, he was most definitely using a different basis for doing so. In fact, any of the people we defined as 'assholes' and eliminated for their behavior, which has only been four Turks over the whole time we've been operating, were ones I didn't approve of. Everyone else he wanted was no issue for me, and I had wanted them, too—and regardless of their faction, they've proven themselves to be what I wanted in the Turks."

"That makes it sound like you planned for that to be the case," Vincent commented in amusement.

"I _wish_ I could have planned that," she replied in dry amusement. "But it certainly hasn't been all bad. Knowing the depth of the situation is helpful in some ways, though. Are you able to leave that data with me to look over, Verdot?"

"That's why I brought it, though you'd better find a safe place for it so no one will find it and ask why you have it," he agreed, closing the—very full—folder he still held and placing it on her desk. He then turned back to Vincent and asked, "Ready to work out who will do what?"

"Sure," Vincent agreed. "I agree with Tseng about the two which are definitely off and count as top priorities. There were a few others I wanted to prioritize, so if you had chosen different ones, I can assign Guards to those."

Verdot moved over to sit with him and go over the investigative missions.

FoWD

Three weeks had passed by the time Sirra realized the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place, and she only even realized it because she'd gotten to Nightcap late after a delivery had taken over two hours longer than it should have. When she first stepped inside, she noticed with some surprise that Fuhito was sitting at the bar, and a quick check of the time was when she realized how much later than normal she was. Since he was there and she always walked the same route, right by the bar, to get to her usual seat, she did so, watching Fuhito out of the corner of her eye.

In fact, she was so intent on the Wutain that she almost missed Ruluf in his Russel persona already sitting at what had become 'their' table. The rat bastard had capitalized on the rumor that they were going out to openly meet and sit with her, just deliberately dressed to be another common Slum resident, not a Turk. Every time she tried to deny having such a relationship with him, it just produced amusement from everyone—including him—so she'd given up complaining. It wasn't that she didn't like his company—she'd found she actually _did_—but like he'd said that night, he was more like her younger brother than a romantic interest.

As she neared Fuhito, she again focused wholly on him out of the corner of her eye, seeing how he didn't stiffen or tense as she neared him, didn't turn to look, and didn't start reaching for a weapon. As she passed right behind him within touching distance, that didn't change, so she kept going to her seat as she mentally processed what had just happened.

Fuhito had let her walk so close behind him without acknowledging her or reacting to her presence. He had deemed her trustworthy enough to let his guard down around her. She did a mental jig as she realized she'd very soon be able to off the fucker!

Sitting at the table across from Ruluf with the faintest smirk on her face, she had to blink in mild surprise as he asked, "What's got _you_ in such a good mood?"

"Jackpot," she replied, then pulled out the biggest wad of cash he'd ever seen anyone in the Slums other than Corneo pull out.

"The fuck?" he asked with a shocked blink as he stared at it.

She leaned close to him and whispered, "Fuhito's guard is down. And this was a shockingly _valuable_ delivery, even if it made me late."

As she sat back, his eyes widened momentarily before he snorted and laughed, "Only you, Ratri, only you."

"Told you 'tame' shit like escorts and deliveries pay well," she replied in amusement.

"Fair enough," he agreed, still looking amused. "So, how's your next week looking so far?"

"Decent. Got a retrieval for a few days from now, but otherwise, it's the usual fare. As always, some monster extermination mixed in with deliveries and escorts. Speaking of, how did that task for Fuhito go the other day?"

"Oh? Do you share your jobs with one another?" Fuhito asked in vague amusement from beside the table.

"Nope, just the fact that we've got one," Sirra replied in annoyance. "And you weren't exactly subtle when you talked to Russ."

The Wutain chuckled at that and admitted, "True, I wasn't. And yes, his job went well—he was paid for it before you got here. Looks like you're doing very well for yourself, better than normal, even."

"My timing worked out well. Got anything for me today?" she asked.

"A delivery for the morning," he said as he handed her a small, nearly flat, rectangular box and an envelope. "As usual. An escort for late in the day tomorrow if you have time?"

Sirra blinked as she took the box and envelope, then thought about her other arrangements. "If it's between about seven and ten—and will be done by ten—I should be able to do it."

"It should be, yes. Give me a few minutes to finish the prep for that, then," he agreed, heading back to the counter.

"...Found his Materia yet? Or at least the retrieval?" Ruluf asked softly.

Sirra dropped her cash on the table, set the box beside it, opened the envelope to pull out the cash and the paper with the delivery address, and tossed the new bundle of cash on the stack she already had. That, she left there, but put both the box and paper in her pocket; there was no point in putting away the cash when Fuhito was just going to give her more of it in a few minutes. "Yeah, he's got an odd one out in his pocket," she answered. "I'd bet that's the one."

His lips quirked in amusement. "If he wasn't—who he is, he'd be a damned good employer. I'm a little shocked."

With a snort, the woman replied, "Yeah, with some people, you never can tell."

The barkeeper brought her the first of her drinks—and gaped at the stack of cash sitting openly on the table, which made her smirk—then headed back to the bar as Fuhito returned to her table with another envelope. "The deal is, he probably won't be ready to go until about eight, but if you get there early and he happens to be ready, you'll be able to leave early. He's only in need of a trip to the next Sector over, so two hours should be long enough to get him there, and you won't have to escort him back, since he'll be staying there for a few days for sure. The only major problem, and the reason for the escort, is some—more enhanced than normal—monsters which have been breeding in that zone. You probably also have a clearing task for it already. Any questions?"

"Nope, seems pretty straight-forward," she answered. "Thanks." He walked away with a creepy grin as she added the new cash to the stack already on the table, rolled it all up (as well as she could, anyway), and put it in her pocket, then folded the envelope and put it in her other pocket. By having one address not in an envelope and the other in one, she'd remember which was which so she didn't accidentally mix them up.

"Is he _always_ creepy when he's happy?" Ruluf asked with a bit of a disturbed expression.

She snorted again and answered, "Yep, the fucker." Ruluf just sighed.

FoWD

After about half a week of rest at the Inn, Lakis had mostly recovered his energy levels, and chosen some new Materia to play with. They had been ready to go at that point, and Percia was still somewhat uncertain about things as they stood, but she took Lakis' advice to properly formulate her questions rather than panicking or trying to decide when she didn't have enough information to do so properly. As they headed north, they had planned to be away for several days, knowing they would have to also get to the depths of the cave and back to Icicle Inn.

It felt like a long trip, but it was actually less extensive than the traipsing around they had already done to find and destroy the Jenova Crystals, and they had reached the base of the Cliff fairly quickly. It was just too bad the slopes weren't good enough to have been able to ski nearly right down to the base of the Cliff, because that would have easily cut two days off their travel time.

When they reached the base of the Cliff, they found a strange group of monsters, and a Lature Dano was carrying a Jenova Crystal in its mouth. The group wasn't hard to dispatch, but they were nearly taken by surprise from above by a pair of Dark Dragons. Once they had lost the element of surprise, the Dragons were also pretty quick to take down—there were eight definite combatants, nine if they counted Aeris. After that, Lakis tried his hand at dissolving the Jenova Crystal, which worked well and he looked like the cat that got the canary, producing amusement from the others, who then all turned their attention to what was right in front of them.

The problem with climbing the Cliff was that half their group had trouble climbing such a steep incline, and no one had the ability to fly—until Nina had cutely pointed out that they had Summons who could help them, so why not ask? Some of them had wings. They had each asked their Summons, and quickly found Aeris' Phoenix Summon would take them all up to the top of the cliff if she gave it some time to explore. Since Aeris was fine with that, they were soon up at the top and working their way through the Whirlwind Maze. While there were monsters to fight in the area, there weren't a lot, not even as they reached the path descending into the Crater.

Percia began to wonder how long their luck in sheer lack of battles would hold, because all records and rumors held that the Northern Crater was so full of monsters you couldn't take a step without stepping on one. That should have included the inclined path to the bottom of the Crater, and yet...One in ten minutes. Another one in another ten minutes. How long could that really go on for? It made her apprehensive, and she made sure she was ready to draw her sword at a moment's notice. As they reached the crater, she was also never more thankful for having made that decision.


	79. 77-Monster Madness

Monster Madness

It was only when the group reached the Crater itself that they found another two groups of monsters working to break Jenova Crystals free from the frozen, crystallized Mako there. That time, it was a much harder battle, especially when monsters, all kinds, began pouring out from the deeper Cave to attack them. The surge alarmed them all, and they collectively began to wonder if they would survive after all. In that, it was only Nina's unique brand of Limit Break healing which was keeping them alive, because even Aeris' skill in that regard didn't hold a candle to the younger girl's when it was put to the test.

Since all of them had Materia, they began calling Summons to help them, along with casting spells. Previously, when they had needed a Summon, it was for a very short time—largely to use their primary attack, healing, or effect ability once—but this time, they were just calling them to 'help with the battle', which also meant they stayed longer than for just one attack. It took them all by surprise to realize that, and it was only Aeris, whose Phoenix was still out and about, and Nina, who had no Materia other than a Restore, a Heal, and two Alls, who didn't call one to help them.

However, as half an hour became one, and one became two, and their injuries began to not be able to heal as quickly, they realized they were in deep trouble, even by doubling their combat strength with Summons. And a sense of horror and defeat was about to set in as they all saw a Shadow Monk bodily throw itself at an undefended Aeris—

Only for flames to suddenly spring up from her and roll in a dense wave across the battle zone, killing the monsters closest to the humans and Motos and doing significant damage to the rest. At the same time, they all felt their injuries mending, even as a new wave of monsters came at them—and were promptly yanked upward into a giant maw above them, which incidentally also tore off the whole top of the Mako-created shelter at the bottom of the Crater. As that top and all their current attackers were dragged into the maw, it shut and the sort-of reddish head it belonged to vanished.

Looking up, the others saw a Phoenix (Aeris'?) circling above them, and there were several not-quite-defined forms hovering in the air around the area, but they weren't able to pinpoint anything beyond the fact that they were there.

Suddenly, Aeris called, "Verde, Lakis, start destroying the rest of the Jenova Crystals! We have to get them taken care of quickly now that our only shelter will be in the cave itself!"

"The monsters?" Verde asked tersely as more surged from the cave, a few Dragon Zombies and Jabberwocks in the lead.

"We have help—apparently my Phoenix went to find some free-roaming Summons because it already knew from Minerva about the monsters being a danger to us. And you two are the only ones who can destroy them," Aeris replied, ignoring how their Summons were the first to meet the new round of attackers, followed by a red Bahamut sending a fireball into the cave entrance. They all stumbled and swayed as the fireball collided with something solid, though.

After a moment, Lakis said, "Very well," and turned to face the nearest upward-jutting Jenova Crystal as he activated the arrays to cleanse—and destroy—them.

With a faint sigh, Verde nodded and moved to one near Lakis to do the same thing. It was harder to do with the much larger shards at the Crater, and both found very quickly that the average spell range (in diameter)—and part of the reason it was 'harder'—was equivalent to the height of the average man. It meant the areas they were cleansing were large, and they were pouring huge amounts of both energy and focus into doing so. Having a bad feeling about their lack of focus caused Percia to take a guard stance by them, keeping an eye on their surroundings—which was a good thing as a few other monsters attacked from outside the bottom of the Crater.

While they worked, monsters kept surging out of the Cave in straggled waves, met by Zack, the two Motos, the dogs Odin and Alexander, and Aeris. Nina kept healing, but stayed close to Lakis and Verde. Every time a new wave of monsters hit, the hazy forms above them would shift and a few would materialize to launch attacks on the attackers, some of them vanishing entirely after and others just sort of fading out again. They included far more than anyone had realized at first, but over time, the beings began to reveal their forms.

The first had been the 'giant maw' of Atomos. More than one Bahamut was present, though they had only clearly seen Neo Bahamut. A mechanical-like being called Ark had sent out shadowy laser beams at a group of largely flying monsters, and they only knew its name because of Aeris. There also were at least one each of Odin, Alexander, Shiva, and Leviathan ("Frozen wall of monsters, anyone?" Zack had joked at how Shiva froze Leviathan's tidal wave with the monsters stuck in it). A free-roaming Typhon had even joined Lakis' summoned Typhon, and both had just been repeatedly assaulting monsters randomly across the area, and sometimes venturing into the Cave to meet an attack and break the formation. Phoenix (one besides Aeris') obliterated the 'walls' of monsters created by Leviathan and Shiva each time the pair froze large numbers, and sometimes, a Titan helped do that honor, too.

In the end, it took most of the rest of that day and a large part of the night, both for the waves of monsters to stop coming, and for the two Mages to finish clearing out the Jenova-influenced Mako from the Crater. What they were left with was cold, hard stone and a few patches of normal, frozen Mako, and they actually had to climb a slope to the Cave entrance to get to it so they could rest. Every one of them was so exhausted by then that they pretty much fell immediately into deep sleep, cuddled together for warmth, and wouldn't have noticed if anything attacked or killed them while in that state.

As such, their waking in the morning left them somewhat shocked, as they saw a not-quite adult man give them a smile and nod before he left the Cave—and became the Neo Bahamut who had helped them before. "I've seen him before!" Lakis, Percia, and Aeris all gaped, then turned to stare at one another in surprise.

"...So...I think we need to stay here and rest for the day, not keep going into the Cave just now," Aeris commented, promptly deciding not to think too hard about the boy-Summon. "Oh, we should probably get used to calling the free-roamers 'Eidolons' after they helped us yesterday and last night."

"Probably," Zack agreed with a faint grin. "I've got my energy back, so you lot rest and I'll keep watch for the day. And we all need food before we do anything else—we barely managed a bit of snacking between waves of monsters yesterday." With agreement from the others, they went with Zack's offer, and all spent part of the day sleeping, even Nina.

FoWD

It was almost noon and Tifa was grinning like a loon as she waited by the elevator on floor forty-nine for the people she had invited to the cafeteria opening to join her there. She knew she'd be a little late by doing it, but she was just so excited, and wanted her friends to be the first ones she served in the new cafeteria! And that meant she'd told Stroud he was going to be there—he'd said he had to eat, anyway, which made her snicker—and had invited Yufi and Shelke, and invited them to bring friends and family. She'd known that completely meant Shalua, and probably one or two others, though Shalua she had only met a few times through Shelke through Yufi.

Of course, she knew full well only Stroud and Yufi had an automatic right to be there, but the rules hadn't said others couldn't use it, they just needed to be with someone who could, so she felt absolutely no guilt at her guest list.

The elevator opened just then, so she turned to look eagerly—and grinned again as she saw Yufi, Shelke, and Shalua step off, followed by a blond a little older than Shalua who was looking around curiously. The blond wore the Academy uniform and looked somehow familiar, so Tifa asked, "Is this everyone, then?"

"Yup!" Yufi grinned back. "Elena is Emma's younger sister, and she's aiming for the Turks, too. Where's Stroud?"

"Probably already there," Tifa answered in amusement. "Come on, then!" She then led the way to the cafeteria as Elena was given her name, and they stepped inside to look around. Sure enough, Stroud was sitting at one table in the corner, and some other SOLDIERs and a few Turks were in the room, nearly all seated and most of them already with meals. At that point, Tifa waved them over to Stroud's table and said, "I have to work, so go through the menu and let me know when you want to order!" She then headed quickly for the kitchen area.

Angeal was the first one she saw as she stepped inside, as he had to turn and lift a large pot he'd been carrying just so she didn't hit her head on it. "You're late," he told her in a teasing tone as she headed for where their cooking gear was kept, like aprons and mitts.

"Yup, sorry! I brought some friends, like Yufi and Shelke!" she answered happily as she started working on one of the orders already up. "So, how did that therapy you were doing go? Hi, Ansha!" The woman only paused from the food she was working on long enough to look up at her with a small smile and nod.

"I just got the results yesterday. It's looking like everything's all fixed up now, so I can go back to my regular workload without issues," Angeal answered warmly. She was such a thoughtful girl, and he appreciated how many little things she remembered about the people around her, especially the ones she cared about.

"That's great! Has it been really busy?" she asked, giving him a huge grin at the news that he was well.

"So-so," Ansha answered that time. "The real rush should be starting soon, but I don't think this place will ever actually have 'down time' other than when it's closed."

Tifa giggled and replied, "Well you kind of expect that when you're feeding over two hundred people all three meals every day! You said there were a couple more chefs coming in to work here soon?"

"We're expecting to start with them next week," Ansha smiled.

"And Tifa, _you_ have seniority here, so remember not to take any shit from them if they try to boss you around—you're _their_ boss, but that means acting like it," Angeal added to her.

"Am I allowed to hit them if they act like assholes?" Tifa asked innocently, eyes gleaming in clear indication of a smirk.

Apparently, Angeal missed that part and gaped at her for a moment before replying, "No! You don't need to hit them to assert your position here!"

Ansha snorted and actually gave a full-throated laugh, making both others pause to stare at her for a moment before going back to work. When she stopped laughing, she said, "Angeal, she was teasing you. Though, she's as good as any Turk in taking down SOLDIERs now, so if a fight breaks out, she can stop it. I hope that will only apply to the visitors here, not to her co-workers. But Tifa, if one tries to harm you physically, use force to stop them if you need to, just don't do any harm which is unnecessary."

"Got it!" she agreed with a grin, checking to see if her friends were ready to order.

It looked like they were, so she headed over to the table to find out what they wanted. While she hadn't been completely sure Stroud would be okay with the group, it turned out he seemed to be smiling faintly, something he only did when he was okay, making her happy. Once she had their orders, she scurried back to the kitchen to get started.

FoWD

Rosso trailed Weiss to the new cafeteria, asking faintly, "Why here?" as they went.

"Because it's not _down there_," he replied plainly, and she gave a faint chuckle.

At the doors, their ID's unlocked them, and they stepped inside—only to hear a young girl call out exuberantly, "Use Rocket Punch, Majordomo!" Both of their eyes sought the disturbance, only to see—Yufi in her Turk uniform...standing near a table in one corner...about five feet from Shelke, who wore the Academy uniform?

"Ouch, that hurt..." the red haired girl commented with a small, pained face. "Okay, then, Meera, show her how much punch a Magic Hammer has!" While she also 'called out' the words, they were much more mildly said than the Wutain girl's.

"Awww..." Yufi whined and pouted, then grinned and said happily, "Then come out, Torterra, and Ram her Skipjack!"

"What are they doing?" Weiss asked, noting how almost all eyes in the room were on them in vague amusement, like it was some sort of—maybe comedy?—show.

"Eep!" Shelke winced. "Sorry, Meera. Return. Okay, your turn, Heron!" As she spoke that time, she lifted the device in her hands high enough for Rosso to see it, making her brow quirk as her gaze focused on the young Turk's hands. Sure enough, she had one as well. Were they...for some reason...talking to the devices? "Use your Victory Sweep!"

"Ah!" the Wutain gaped at the device in her hands in dismay. "How does a _bird_ automatically switch out one of my Pets?" she then wailed.

"Uh, check your Pets again, because Victory Sweep locks all but the ones under half health," the red haired girl smirked.

"...That's _almost all_ of them!" Yufi stared in horror.

Admittedly, Rosso was curious now, so she made her way over to them to look more closely at the devices, not even paying attention to how Shelke beat Yufi, and only actually noting that apparently the non-combatant had won. The device was held in two hands like a remote, with a screen on the top and a screen on the bottom, between two distinct sets of buttons. Also, they seemed to fold, and came in more than one color, and what she saw on the screens were colorful graphics which were more like drawn images than photographs. If she had to define them, they were 'semi-realistic' creatures, people, and sceneries.

Shelke looked up at her in surprise, then asked, "Is something wrong, Rosso?"

Pointing at the device, the fifteen-year-old asked, "What _is_ that?"

Yufi's jaw dropped and she asked in horror, "You don't know?" When Rosso looked up and shook her head, the girl exclaimed, "Well that sucks dick!"

"_Yufi_!" several others in the room exclaimed in horror, most of them the ones at their table or the Turks—which also produced amused snorts and laughs from most of the SOLDIERs present, and even a few of those from Deepground looked amused.

The nine-year-old just waved them off, grabbed Rosso by the arm, and dragged her into the seat at the table beside hers, where she started explaining about this game played for fun, just to give the mind something to do to relax. It could be played alone or with others, though chances were you wouldn't be able to finish the game without teaming up. Since everyone at their table played in their off-time, it was something they could also do to interact with one another, just talk, make plans. While Weiss could have chosen another place to sit—with others from Deepground who were there, too—he ended up sitting at the free seat between Shalua and Shelke, also listening to the explanation.

Usually, Rosso didn't care a lot about games or fun, since fighting _was_ 'fun' to her, but this time, she thought the game sounded interesting. The others passed around their games to let her and Weiss look at the different types of Battle Pets there were, and she blinked in awe at a few of them. One of them, she paused at—it was a red, regal bird which used fire and speed primarily—and breathed, "I _want that_ one!"

"Huh?" several of the others blinked at her in surprise as Shelke leaned over to look—Rosso was holding her game system at the time—and said, "Oh, that's Heron, a Resrane." The girl blinked and looked up at Rosso to meet the other's curious gaze, then she grinned and said, "Then you'd better get a game device and a Battle Pets game. If you've got time after lunch, we can go down to the store in town and get you the copy where you can get it wild, or you can pick a different copy and I'll breed Heron and trade it to you. Whichever you like. And you'll still be able to play with us, even if you're down in Deepground at the time."

"Really?" Rosso asked eagerly at the options, then looked at Weiss questioningly.

He blinked at her almost dazedly, then asked, "You...really want to do this, don't you?"

"Yes!" she grinned. "Please?"

"Why are you even _asking_ him?" Shalua asked in confusion.

"Because he's her team leader," Elena replied dryly. "And it's not just for 'her' to get one, it's for _him_ to get one, too. Because status aside, they're friends, too."

"And one for Argento!" Rosso added with a grin. "I saw one earlier that I know she'd _love_, the one with that brightly colored snake!" Giggles rose from most of the others at the table at the words.

Weiss, on the other hand, sighed and agreed, "Fine. But we're going to cite you lot as the reason we were late practicing and returning to Deepground, if you don't mind?"

"Go right ahead," Elena agreed in amusement.

"So, have the two of you managed to decide on what you want to eat?" Tifa asked from behind Rosso, her tone amused.

"Give them a treat, one of your best sweet things!" Yufi told her with a grin.

"That's dessert," Tifa answered dryly. "They need a meal, not just a dessert."

"Is there a menu here?" Weiss asked with a startled blink as his mind apparently caught up to what 'deciding what they wanted to eat' meant. Tifa pointed to it, expression amused, and both Weiss and Rosso had a look before deciding on meals they wanted to try.

Rosso was startled to find that she was enjoying herself around this energetic group, and would happily do this sort of thing all the time around her training. At first, that surprised her, since most of the people she was sitting with were academics—though apparently Elena may have been more of a combatant? She wasn't completely sure of that at the moment, but something about the way she handled herself made her think it was true, as she gave off something very like Turk vibes. And even though the dark haired girl acting as waitress and chef seemed to be a civilian, Rosso somehow felt her chances of winning a fight against her would be oddly low.

When they finished eating their absolutely fabulous meals (she _loved_ practically feeling her taste buds explode with the flavors of the foods Tifa had brought out to them), they let the group lead them out of the Shinra building and into the city. Stroud had decided to join them, though Tifa had still been working and had to stay at the cafeteria—which apparently didn't at all bother her—so it was a fair group heading into the city. It suddenly occurred to Rosso to wonder why there were only two guys in the group, and all the rest were girls or women. Shouldn't there have been more guys?

Her gaze moved to Stroud as they walked, and she pondered why Ed would be so certain Stroud would be stronger if given the chance to recover. She still wasn't sure such would be the case, but some part of her—_wanted_ to hope he would be able to recover...wanted to hope he would be able to be strong after all. There was a quick way to find out if he had a chance to do so, but would he forgive her for doing it?

A moment later, she decided to toss that question in the trash and leave it there—she didn't actually _care_ if he did, she _wanted to know_ if he _could_ find his strength again.

It only took her a moment to draw her blades from her back and jump at him from behind with one side raised, even as she deliberately put out killing intent she didn't really feel.

The reaction from him was actually shocking, as he felt the attack coming and spun to face her, blades drawn to intercept and block hers, causing a loud, echoing crash which traveled up and down the street. Everyone halted and faced them in stunned surprise, and she met Stroud's shocked, pained, _and determined_ gaze. With a blink, Rosso searched his gaze again, then smiled and lifted her blade, re-sheathing it as she told him, "You'll be able to fight when you need to. And your instincts are some of the most honed I've _ever_ seen. Well done."

"Wait, what?" Stroud blinked in surprise as he warily lowered his daggers and met her gaze.

She gave a nod and just said, "Something I had been wondering—was there a point to the effort they put into your recovery? As it so happens, there was, and is."

"...You would have killed me if I hadn't reacted?" he gaped.

"Not at all," she smirked. "I just manipulated the sense I was presenting so you would feel killing intent, and either react or not. If you hadn't reacted at all, though, I'd have washed my hands of you completely. As it happens, I very much liked your reaction. And just think—you just drew your blades _with the intent_ to _use them on another human being_. As I said, you'll be _able_ to fight when you _need_ to."

For a minute, everyone in hearing range just gaped at her, then Shalua said, "Well, if you're all done resolving that, we still have two blocks or so to the shop, so we'd better keep going."

Stroud just stared at Rosso for a few moments as the whole group kept heading to their destination, then looked down at his daggers for a moment before sheathing them and just following along with the group, though he was careful to keep Rosso in front of him. She, on the other hand, just peered curiously at the shop they had finally been led to. Never had anyone from Deepground had a reason to be in such a place, so it was completely new to step into one, to feel the hum of electrical energy in the air, to smell the plastic and the metal the place was loaded with. She loved it, just for being _different_.

In the back of the shop was a section of wall with shiny packages, and five were the colored boxes clearly labeled as 'Battle Pets', each one in a color and name which corresponded to a Materia type—green Magic, blue Support, yellow Command, red Summon, and purple Independent. In addition, the cover had the image of an elemental creature; Magic had an earth deer, Support had an ice bird, Command had an electric cat, Summon had a flaming dog, and Independent had a—probably—gravity ferret.

Shelke helpfully said, "Support has the Resrane wild, if you want to get it yourself. But, you'll probably have more fun if you play one with a starter you _like_. The snake is actually in all of them as an optional single find, sort of like a boss—and it can't be bred. You need to choose the one for Argento based on what _she_ would like to play until she can get it."

Rosso blinked at the packages in amazement, trying to choose which one she may like, but suddenly, Weiss sighed and reached past her to pick up the yellow Command one, and he also picked up the purple one. "I'll go with this one—no one else has it yet, and I don't otherwise have a preference. Of the options, Independent is probably Argento's top pick. Rosso, I would suggest you take either the dog or the deer." He then looked at the others and asked, "The devices?"

They turned back to her and Elena asked, "Are you still going to be a bit, Rosso?"

Blinking, the young woman sighed and shook her head as she took the one with the dog, mostly because it was _red_, and it was _fire_, and turned to an amused Shelke to ask, "How soon can I get a Resrane from you?"

"When you get to the first town, you're allowed to start using 'party status' and can start interacting with other players," Shelke replied. "I'll be able to trade it to you then. Done?"

At Rosso's nod, they all moved to where the devices were, Weiss choosing a white one for himself and a black one for Argento, and Rosso picking their last available red one. As they made the way to the shop counter, she hijacked the purple game package from him, saying, "This way, the gift is from both of us." He gave a faint smile and let her keep and pay for both games. For her part, it felt strange to actually have her own money to spend...and she kind of liked the feeling.

As they left the shop, she was excited, eagerly waiting for when they would have some free time later in the day to get started on playing.


	80. 78-Spark

**A/N:** Aaand...we start with 'the shit hitting the fan, round 1' today!

Spark

Lady Shinra sighed faintly as she waited for Vincent to return with Edward, wishing things were different. Of course, that was something she had wished for many times, but this time, there was no getting around the needs of the situation, and that unfortunately meant having the blond surrounded by a lot of people he didn't deal well with. She felt Carbuncle land on her head and give it a pat, making her smile as she rose and grabbed up her cane to make her way to the door. She also pulled out her PHS and sent the request to meet at the President's office to all the 'leaders' amongst the combat personnel.

It didn't take long for her to get to the Presidential Lobby leading up to his office, where she waited for Vincent, who should, by all rights, return sooner than anyone else would show up. Sure enough, he and Edward—with Elicia on his shoulder—were the first to arrive, a very annoyed Doriss with them. Verdot and Tseng joined them before the first arrivals had made it to her, so they waited for the other two Turks. All of them then proceeded up the stairs to the President's office, ignoring how he looked up at them with a glare before going back to his paperwork. Edward was notably fidgety, but Doriss and Tseng flanked him, and she smiled faintly as the blond relaxed.

Quietly, she made her way to her seat, followed by Vincent and by Edward, and by Doriss and Tseng, who even the President and Restrictors noted (by their raised brows, obvious even with the Restrictors' masks) were staying close to Edward. It also didn't take Rufus, Lazard, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal long to arrive, though Angeal was notably later than the others, having had to come from the cafeteria. After them came the last two Restrictors and the five Tsviets, the only notable interaction between any of them being for Nero to glare at Genesis, which produced a snort and a rude gesture from the red haired man, and in turn a deepening glare from Nero.

"So, now that everyone's here, what's this all about, Janelle?" the President asked.

"Verdot, you may want to start this, as it relates to your undercover Turk," she told the man, who had taken his usual seat by the President's.

His brow rose, but he nodded and said, "Tseng and I planted Sirra in the Slums several months ago in an attempt to track and flush out Fuhito. She's got him in her sights, and plans to eliminate him within the week. However, that will be a trigger, both for the rest of AVALANCHE and for the Wutain invaders to act, as they've been sharing quarters since they've been in the city. Since she can't give us a specific time she'll do the task, we need to be ready for the fallout. This also comes on the heels of our agents who are tracking Hollander reporting back that he had been helping Fuhito improve experimental prototypes he calls Ravens."

"And?" the President asked, looking pointedly at Edward.

Janelle nodded and passed a sheet of paper to the blond young man to say, "That's everything we know about the new Ravens. Since you've—dealt with—their previous incarnations, and also know targets the terrorists and invaders are likely to go after, what light can you shed on the situation we're about to go into?" She looked up at the others while Edward read and said, "Everyone will also shortly be sent this data, once I've updated it with information from this meeting." The others nodded and waited for the younger blond to finish reading.

Edward then looked up tiredly and said, "Well, there are specific weak points Midgar has, and keeping the Ravens away from them is going to be hard when they fly. He's had enough time to make lots of them, too. I'm not sure if the Wutains have a way to get to the Upper Plate, but if they can't, they'll go after the next most obvious target they _can_ reach."

"Which is?" Rufus asked, gaze wary as all eyes focused on him.

For a moment, Edward was silent, but then he sighed and looked up to meet the President's gaze. "When you built the central support pillars, you also built them with a control room and a self-destruct code. The Wutains know that, and they'll aim to bring down those pillars. Since they use Mirage Materia to make themselves invisible, you won't necessarily be able to stop them without having people in place who can fight them on equal terms—Mages."

The man's eyes widened in shock as everyone else's widened in horror (other than maybe the Restrictors'), and he asked in a strained tone, "Why are you just blurting that out?"

"Because it can't be ignored if you expect there to be a city left when this battle's over," Edward replied quietly. In the silence, everyone heard him. "If the city's defenders don't know the real danger, they won't be a fraction as effective." His gaze moved to Lady Shinra as he added, "On the Upper Plate, though, they'll target the Reactors and Shinra Headquarters, and this office is nearly undefended. It's also free access to the rest of the building if they can get in here."

Lady Shinra's lips pressed into a fine line as she said, "That's...eighteen locations we need a sufficient guard at, only because the Sector Five Reactor isn't there to target, and with the strength of these Ravens..."

"They still have the same weakness they _always_ have—just take off their heads and they'll be done for. SOLDIERs are shockingly good at doing that as long as they know they need to, and I'd guess any Deepground members who use blades would be the same. And since they all have enough magical ability to aim for the wings with fire or ice, they can also ground them once they're in targeting range," Edward informed her plainly. "But you're going to have to keep most of your strongest people mobile, and Turks who don't have a blade of some sort are going to have to leave the Ravens be, focus on the Wutains, though ones with bombs and EMR's are useful against Ravens for crowd control. Under the circumstances, I'd probably have the rest guard the pillar control rooms."

Before anyone could stop him, Weiss had moved over to the table where Ed sat, took the paper to scan it, and commented, "I'd be more inclined to keep the strongest at the target locations, not have them roam. Why are you saying the opposite?"

Blinking at him, the blond replied, "Because it's actually a fact that a group of four or five Thirds and a Second can hold the Reactors against attack, and that they can take one back if the enemy has already compromised it. That's the terrorists and Wutains, who actually _work together_. Ravens don't work together or help one another because they're walking corpses without feelings. In the end, that's their greatest weakness, and the only question is the Seconds' tactical and strategic ability. Because the Reactors all have limited entry points, that's a sufficient guard. In fact, Fuhito sort of did us a favor by taking out Reactor Five, because that one was the _only one_ which could be easily compromised by flight. And if you're stupid enough to _not_ sweep the city afterwards to make sure you got them all, I'm not responsible for the results."

Everyone stared at him again, then Weiss nodded and said, "The best advantage in defending those seven locations will most likely be to have a Second with strong tactical and strategic ability lead a small force of Deepground members. Ours can take orders well, but being able to give them...I think there's only two or three that I know about who have any chance of that. And if we Tsviets are to be roaming, that leaves us out of those smaller commands."

"If they have flight, should Sephiroth and I meet them in the air?" Genesis asked suddenly, gaze shrewd.

"The two of you should actually be guarding the balcony with Odin while the rest of the building is on lockdown," the blond answered. "Though, you may not be staying there, so you could attack some who fly nearby or meet them before they get especially close."

"And where will we get an Odin from?" the President asked in annoyance.

"I have one," Ed answered. "When the attack starts, I'll send it here to defend. The base of the building can be easily guarded by the Knights forming Knights of the Round, which I _also_ have. Neither the Wutains nor the Ravens should be able to get through the building defenses without blatantly announcing themselves and attracting someone's attention to kill them. Though, other than those whose primary targets are Ravens, the rest would need to be in the Slums, and around the core pillar, because that's where they're going to come from, and where they'll head to." Everyone gaped at him saying he had those Summons, but then they collectively sighed.

Then the woman frowned and said, "Unless I start sending Turks out into the city alone while the Ravens are attacking, there are only enough Turks to cover seven of the eight pillars, or I only send three pairs of Turks to help the Upper Plate. It would be doable but far from ideal. And it would also mean Kariya would be away for the next—however many days it will be until the attack, which is a position I don't currently want to leave you in, Edward."

All eyes went to the blond again, and he sighed. "That means you either appropriate a few Academy students you've had your eye on to help at the last pillar or I can ask a few other Summons if they'll help as pillar defenders. That depends on you and how you want to work this. Though—as much as I know Elena would both like to and want to do it, in situations like this, she often becomes a fantastic leader for the other students in combat classes, so you don't want to take her away from the building, otherwise your support defenses will take a huge hit."

"Who's Elena?" several people asked.

It was Rosso who said, "The Turk Emma's younger sister, and one of the Academy's top combat students."

Everyone blinked, then the President said, "Fine, Janelle, do you know of any other students you could put into place there? And based on your calculations of the Turks, don't you still have at least two to place at the last pillar?"

"One is on medical restriction. And do you actually _want_ Rufus placed there, or to take away the undercover agent's only contact with us?" she asked dryly.

"Absolutely not!" the President replied emphatically, and Rufus scowled.

"There are four students besides Elena who we have our eye on. If placing them there works out well, we can hire them officially as soon as the attack is done," the woman offered in reply.

"Fine. Let's arrange this, then," the President agreed.

"All right, that should be all, Edward. Thank you for your help. You and Doriss can head out while we finish finalizing this," Lady Shinra told him with a small smile, and he nodded and rose, hurrying from the room with Doriss hot on his heels. It was obvious he had been having a rough time of things, though Elicia had probably helped a lot by being there. Once Edward was gone, Tseng moved over to take his usual place by Verdot, and they were able to turn their attention to working out the distribution of their forces.

One more step was complete, she reflected as they worked.

FoWD

It had taken them only a day and a half to get down to the core, mostly because there were nearly no monsters left to fight along the way. Without being slowed by battles, they gained extra time, something they were quite pleased to find. Percia was getting nervous again as they walked, though, as much as she tried not to do so. There was nothing more she could do, having formulated as many questions as she was able, so it was now just waiting to meet Minerva again and ask them. Though, it took them all by surprise to go from the cave stair landings to the white-green space she appeared in to them to speak with them.

_:Sentinels,:_ she greeted the two men with a small smile. _:It is good to see you both move forward.:_ They gaped at her, then at each other, and she turned to Aeris and Nina as the little girl cheered, "The nice lady!" and hugged her around the legs. _:Welcome again, my Beloved Child, little Budling.:_

"Hello, Minerva," Aeris smiled. "Do you know what was with the monsters attacking us at the Crater?"

_:I had worried they would react violently to human intrusion where they were 'working' at the time,:_ she replied. _:I had hoped the journey would be as any other, however, Jeh-nova's instructions to them had apparently included harsh retaliation against any humans to be here. This is not a bad thing, and I am pleased the Eidolons chose to assist you. Your survival here is a boon, a great one, to the world.:_

"So, any messages for any of the rest of us before you and Percia talk?" Zack asked cheerfully.

She smiled faintly again and almost-chuckled into their minds. _:None in particular, Dynamism. It is not yet time for my discussion with you and my Beloved Child. Also, Jeh-nova has not yet been destroyed, and should that not happen soon, there will be—complications, ones I have no desire to see.:_

The others blinked, then Aeris asked, "So, should we just wait here while you and Percia talk, or do you want to send us back to the cave or something?"

Minerva's gaze turned to the Turk in question, and she offered, _:This decision is your will. Time does not pass in this space as it does in the world at large, so to have them stay or not will make little difference to the flow of time. If you find comfort with their presence, or the reverse, I have no issue with either option.:_

Percia stared at her for a minute, then shook her head and replied, "I don't think it matters. I'm not sure we've even got any secrets from one another anymore, and our first discussion already happened in front of them, so it's not like it's new information."

Minerva inclined her head, then asked, _:Then, what are the questions you would like to ask of me, my Earthen Champion?:_

"First, I know my 'self' right now is the first one who has been a Turk. I'm not so sure the results will be the same as when I was—I guess sort of a terrorist?" Percia semi-explained and semi-asked.

With another incline of the head, Minerva asked in reply, _:Is your mind weak? Do you simply allow others control over you and your actions?:_

"What?" the younger woman asked in shock, not able to grasp the reply questions.

Patiently, Minerva explained, _:You had spent time as a 'terrorist', one who differed from a Turk only in the name you hailed to and the uniform you wore. No Turk in active service has a weak mind, my Earthen Champion. And once you had broken away from the Destroyer, you ceased to be a 'terrorist' at all, and by the time you merged with Zirconaide, you had been an honorary Turk, a powerful ally of theirs. Your situation now is not so different as you perceived by superficial details, as this was never about your status, it is about your mind, your will. And your mind and will have never changed. In this dimension, your mind is stronger than it had been previously, in fact.:_

After a long silence to assimilate the reply, the young Turk slowly nodded and asked, "Then, what's actually going to happen to me if I merge with him? Will I become a monster?"

_:No. You shall become a shapeshifter, able to have three forms. One is your form as it is now, one is Zirconaide's true form, and one is a less powerful, but more versatile, hybrid form. Your abilities as a human should remain as they are, as should the abilities of the Zirconaide form, and the hybrid form requires some trial and error to determine which collection of skills it actively grasped. In addition, you and Zirconaide shall be able to communicate with one another, and you shall gain the ability through him to speak directly to me at any time you so wish. Our communication would be similar in clarity to how we are speaking just now, which is also greater clarity than most Cetra are able to achieve,:_ Minerva readily explained.

Since that answered two of her questions at once, Percia paused before she asked the next question, feeling mildly surprised Minerva was being so open with information. As such, she asked slowly, "If I...take Zirconaide...I'll effectively become a mass executioner, won't I?"

Everyone's eyes widened at that, and Minerva's gaze turned sad. _:That is an unfortunate reality of Zirconaide's form. With his insanity, there is no restriction on who or what he would kill, though you would be able to target much more specifically and keep deaths to a minimum. However, that would not relieve you of the requirement to kill some people, regardless of circumstances. What you will be able to do is kill them in a way in which they will feel no pain, and no harm shall come to me, or to the Planet, by that method, given the limited deaths you would be required to enforce.:_

In some ways, having Minerva freely speak that truth was comforting, but it was also chilling. Finally, she asked, "Who dictates who lives and who dies?"

_:That would depend on the individual. You know already some who must die for the state of the world to improve, and that those people are not the majority. I shall only ever ask that you end the lives of those who are so tainted they cannot be redeemed, not those who are undecided or who do their best to help the world. Much of the decision would be your own,:_ the blond being explained gently.

Shaking her head, Percia said quietly, "I don't know that I can do that."

Minerva nodded and replied, _:You will not need to make a final decision until you return to the city where my Ancient Sentinel is. As it seems you lean more towards not, it would also be best that I begin arranging the cleansing I shall need in place of your merged form's assistance. But so many Sentinels...:_ She paused for a moment, then smiled and went on, _:Ah, there is one way to guarantee what shall be needed. As such, all of you will be needed in the cliffs not far from the diggers' village. Children of the Cosmo Candle, you know of the place of which I speak.:_

Both their eyes widened and Deneh asked, "You want us to lead them to the rest of the Motos and the Cetra _now_?" The others stared at the two in shocked awe.

_:It may not be 'ideal' to do so at this time; however, nor will it be a terrible thing to have them return early to the world. And amongst them, there should be nearly the number of Sentinels needed for the cleansing to be activated. With assistance from my Judge and my Ancient Sentinel, we should be able to appropriately plan the best method to achieve the desired result,:_ she explained to them. _:As such, yes. You all shall be my ambassadors, both to them, and for them.:_

"...So we'll be late getting back to Midgar?" Lakis asked slowly. When Minerva sent him a questioning look, he gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Never mind. I guess we need to get started, then."

She inclined her head, then asked, _:Are there any other questions?:_ When the response was a negative, Minerva said, _:When you return to the surface, you shall be in the Crater, and will need to move quickly to avoid a coming blizzard. If possible, aim for the bottom of the glacier surrounding the Crater before you stop for rest.:_ Before they could blink, the white-green cleared and they found themselves at the bottom of the Crater as a chill wind blew.

"By that wind, I guess we'd better go," Verde commented with a faint sigh. "But wow...That was mind-boggling."

"Don't worry, I completely agree," Lakis told him in amusement, giving his shoulder a friendly thump. "Well, Aeris, will your Phoenix carry us down the Cliff, or are we on our own?" He started walking towards the Whirlwind Maze passage as he spoke, so the others followed, except for Nina and Alexander, who had stopped while she climbed on the Bandersnatch's back. Once she was on, Alexander followed after the others.

"I don't know. He said to ask him later, when we actually need his help," the young woman answered as they walked.

FoWD

Sirra had deliberately taken a bounty she knew would keep her out late on her next scheduled day to be at Nightcap. In a way, it had been annoying to wait, but she'd known taking him down the night right after she'd found she had Fuhito's trust would have been a little too lucky. As it had turned out, he hadn't been there that day anyway. She'd taken her usual two days elsewhere, and now, she was back at Nightcap, and setting up to hopefully have him at the bar when she acted. After all, that was as close as she was ever going to get to him.

As she entered, she scanned the room quickly. Ruluf was again at 'their' table, but there were a few tables occupied by Wutains this time. Some unfamiliar faces were there, too, about three or four, who were probably members of AVALANCHE. As luck would have it, her best chance was probably going to set off a cascade effect, and she was suddenly thankful for Ruluf playing on that whole 'relationship' thing, since virtually everyone would _expect_ him to come to _her_ defense, not to Fuhito's.

Drawing in a deep breath to relax herself, she let her muscles loosen, then followed her usual route, right behind Fuhito's seat, to head to her own.

However, this time, as she passed him, she suddenly whipped out both of her guns and shot him through the back of the neck at the base of the skull and through the heart. Both shots hit, and the man slumped over, drawing all eyes to her in stunned shock.

The bartender's hands went limp and he dropped the drink he'd been fixing, asking her in a winded tone, "Ratri, what did you just _do_?"

She raised a brow at him and replied, "I offed the asshole who blew out Sectors Five and Six. Speaking of, I have a retrieval." She crouched and reached into his pocket for his loose Materia shard, and a touch told her it was indeed the one she was after, so she pocketed it and set Fuhito's body on fire.

"You killed your own _employer_?" he gaped.

"Yeah. Except, he's not _actually_ my employer, he was just a means to an end," she told the barkeeper plainly, noting movement off to the side. And, here came the attack.

The Wutains who had been at one table, all four of them, launched themselves at her, and she spun to face them, taking down the two in front. The other two fell at the same time as them, making everyone look around for the source—only to see 'Russel' standing beside his seat, guns raised.

"You really can't do anything half-way, can you, Sirra?" he asked her in a vaguely tired and amused voice.

"Pretty hard to be half-way on an extermination order, Ruluf," she replied blandly.

"...Wait, what are you calling each other _now_?" the barkeeper asked.

"Oh, that," she smirked. "We're Turks sent to take out Fuhito. Mission accomplished. Now, when's the shit going to hit the fan so we can have some _fun_?"

"Sirra..." Ruluf sighed in exasperation as he struggled not to laugh. "And anyway, this was _your_ mission. You just dragged _me_ into it."

"You dragged _yourself_ along, '_luf_, soon as you had an opening to join me, so don't complain when I call it 'ours'," she replied in annoyance.

He snorted, and like it was a trigger, the 'new faces' in the bar bolted either for the exit doors or for the basement, the latter being the Wutains, who were yelling in Wutain to alert the people downstairs. Sirra immediately bolted after them as Ruluf turned to shoot at the ones heading outside, and of those, he killed all but one, then turned to follow her.

Everyone else stayed in their seats, just staring at the carnage and stunned out of their minds to realize they'd had a Turk there the whole time. Then they caught up with what Sirra had said, and they realized 'Ratri' had disappeared ten years ago because she'd been hired by the Turks.

As it turned out, their having stayed in the bar was a good thing, and their saving grace.

Downstairs, Sirra managed to shoot down a few Wutains as they headed for one room in particular which was at the back of the hall, and she followed them when she realized some of them were shielded, probably because a few had Shield Materia. The number wouldn't have been high, but high enough to keep the death toll down. And for the sheer number of them down there, the place had to've been turned into a massive network of rooms...

Ruluf caught up to her at the door as she followed them into the passage they had apparently made, but the passage was dark, and that made her wary for some reason. Then, she stepped on something that felt like a round tube—and froze. Ruluf was about to step past her when she grabbed his wrist and dragged him back the other way, shouting, "Bombs!" as she did. He gave no resistance as they bolted back for the bar's basement room—

But before they'd gone more than a few paces, a spark lit down the hall and a chain of explosions went off, causing the whole area to shake as a wall of flames surged at them. They were knocked to the ground several feet from where they'd started, even as debris began falling on them as the street above them collapsed from the force of the explosions.

"Fuck!" she swore, then darkness fell.


	81. 79-Ground Zero

Ground Zero

Shears and the two guys who worked with him in the Sector 3 Slums had been working for some time to track the Wutains' location, but narrowing the area they were coming from—or going to—was proving harder than it should have been. In the meantime, between Percia and Ruluf, they had figured out 'Dragon Hunter Ratri' was actually a Turk working on taking down Fuhito. After seeing her work, he realized he could at least respect her, though it was a different form of respect from what he had for Percia. After all, Ratri (or whatever name she had as a Turk) was his equal, while Percia was—above them both.

Across and a few buildings down from the bar the Turks in plainclothes were at, the three men were poking around an old, derelict building long since abandoned and boarded up. They were only checking it out at all because one of them had seen a Wutain leave it. From having worked in Wutai, he knew investigating had to be done with caution, so they were currently across the street and on the nearest building's rooftop to observe the old derelict they were actually after. They absently noted one of Fuhito's goons run from the bar like he had hounds at his heels, but turned back to their observation—

Suddenly, as the three stared in shock, dozens of Wutains poured out of every door the building had, and moments later, the entire street between the derelict building and Nightcap exploded and collapsed in on itself, creating chaos up and down the street.

Swearing faintly, Shears looked down the street to find the Wutains, and saw them split at the crossroads, one group heading for the core pillar and one heading for the central support pillar for the Sector Plate. Since Percia was still away traveling for a case for the Turks, he pulled out his PHS and put in a call to Ansha, who he figured would be in the Shinra building to pass word on. It took several rings for her to answer, and he had just been about to hang up—they didn't have time for this!—when she picked up.

"What's the matter, Shears?" she asked plainly.

"The Wutains in the Sector 3 Slums just blew out a street here and bolted for either the core pillar or the central Plate support pillar. Some of the group headed for each, and it was a pretty big group—a few dozen for sure. Just before that, one of Fuhito's goons bolted from the bar, so I'm guessing your plant in the Slums just offed him. You lot had better have a plan, and I've got to deal with the mess on the street here before I can go anywhere."

"Right, I'll let Lady Shinra know so our forces can move. There are defense forces at the pillars already, so—I hope everyone will have enough warning. Thanks," Ansha agreed, then hung up.

"What do we do?" one of his guys asked warily as he eyed the street below.

There were a lot of people caught in the rubble, and Shears hadn't yet seen either of the Turks who should have been there as first responders due to having been at the bar. "Start getting people out of the rubble. Your priority is the people who are still alive. I'm going to commission the folks at the bar for help and see what the fuck happened to the Turks I know are there right now," he told them, running to the side of the building where there was an alley and jumping down into it. While there were some scorch marks there, it was at least still intact. The other two dropped down there as well, then headed out to the street as he went around back to use the narrow back lane to get around to Nightcap's far side, where the damage was much less.

It was easy enough to get to the bar's door from that side and shove it open, where he yelled, "What are you morons doing still sitting in here? Get your asses out there and start helping get people out of the rubble!" Several immediately jumped to their feet and ran out to start helping pull people free, and others began making their way out a little more slowly, so after noting the bodies in the room, he turned to the barkeeper and asked, "Ratri and—her man?"

"...The Turks, you mean?" the barkeeper asked tiredly. "They ran downstairs after the Wutains who had been hiding out here, and shortly after, the explosion went off...I don't know if they're even alive, but I can't go check with all the rest of the chaos here."

Shears blinked, then ran for the stairs and into the basement, noting immediately how the far end was singed and there was acrid smoke floating in the air. Despite the situation, he had to commend the bar's original builders, because they'd built a damned sturdy foundation. Running down the hall to the burnt area, he checked quickly for the direction it had come from, tracing that in moments to the path which lead under the street.

It was completely caved in. If they were under there...

He ran back outside and paced himself along the damage, knowing they would be closer to the Nightcap side than to the other one. From there, he began moving rock, pulling out a woman and her child as he dug for the two Turks who were at the bottom of the debris. Every so often, he paused to listen, focused on noise from below him in the general area he had been working. Most of those being pulled free were men, or a man and woman together—only another woman alone and two children had been in the blast zone so late at night.

At least that meant civilian casualties would drop due to most sane people being at home and/or in bed at that time...

Finally, after who knew how long, he heard a muffled shout of, "Sirra! Come on, answer me!" Sure enough, it was below and a little closer to Nightcap than where he was, so he shifted and kept working.

FoWD

Ruluf woke with a splitting headache and a pained groan. His body felt like it had been through a grinder and tossed out into the street to rot. As the scent of blood and burnt flesh reached him, he sighed, thinking that was a more accurate than figurative description. He began testing his limbs gently, finding that they were at least functional, but some he couldn't really move well—not due to injuries (though he certainly had those), but because they were being held down. His eyes opened...And met only darkness. At first, that worried him, but after a few minutes, his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light enough to let him see vague shapes around him.

He was trapped in rubble...?

Right, the bomb, and Sirra...Sirra!

Turning his head to look around again, he called, "Sirra?" There was no answer, so he began testing what kind of weight was on his limbs to see if he could move them. One arm had actually mostly just been covered in what he thought was a pile of gravel, so he was able to pull it free without too much trouble, and using that hand, he could lift the larger chunk of—rock, he supposed—off his other arm. The chaffing he felt at the motion told him he had open wounds, likely from the burns having broken open. _That_ was going to leave a lot of scarring...

After pushing aside another small rock which had come to lean on his chest, he was able to sit and begin working on his legs, wondering how so little had fallen on him. As he pulled one foot free just by tipping it in the right direction, he realized he'd been very lucky to have been next to the wall of the path, which had held up a slab of the road above at an angle. He was also relieved to note that it shouldn't have fallen on Sirra, as she'd been ahead of him, not beside him. The chunk of street holding down his other leg was larger and had definitely done some pretty good damage to the limb, and it took both hands and as hard a shove as he could manage to move it.

Once free, he slowly dragged himself out of the shelter, calling again, "Sirra?"

There was still no answer, so he tried to remember what he'd seen in those last moments—where she had fallen, where she had last been. 'Ahead of him' wasn't good enough if she was still unconscious. And damn, his body hurt. Bruises were the least of his worries in the Slums, it was infections from open wounds which were more dangerous, and while his were fairly minor—other than his one leg and the burns—he still had a lot of small, open cuts which had come from utterly disgusting road. If Sirra hadn't woken yet, she was likely injured worse than he was.

Before moving, he cast a few Cure 3's on himself, knowing he was likely trapping infection in his body by doing it, but also knowing he'd get nowhere without at least _some_ healing. The majority of his energy, however, he kept for Sirra, and started trying to get to her. It was hard work to find a path through the rubble, he reflected. His injured leg and the burns all over his body didn't help, since both made movement difficult even after some healing. In the case of his leg, he _really_ didn't want to try using it as leverage with the damage to it—the one time he'd tried had been agony.

There was sound above them now, but his attention was still focused on finding Sirra, so he again pictured where she'd been. Right, the blast had forced her against the far wall some ways ahead of where he was, but between them was a large chunk of the street, and more rubble on top of that.

He kept moving forward until he found a break in the chunk, where he was able to squeeze between two of those chunks and come out into a space about two feet high and maybe ten or twelve long. Its width varied by rubble presence against the wall, but then he looked again at one of the 'pieces of rubble' which was four or five feet down from him. Crawling to it, he reached out and touched it—finding a damaged, burnt arm. "Sirra!" he called as he traced the arm—and found that he had to move a lot of rubble. He'd place bets that the arm in question was broken.

The chunk he pulled away from her first largely uncovered her, but it had done damage and it looked like one entire side of her chest had been shredded. A cautious touch told him the bones were in one piece, but he doubted they were unharmed. It largely meant her lungs still worked because the stone hadn't crushed them, but if she lost much more blood, it wouldn't matter anyway. Her head had also been cleared of rubble by him moving that one block, and like him, she was covered in burns, most of which had broken and seeped puss.

"Sirra! Come on, answer me!" he called to her, for some reason feeling near to tears as he tried to pull more stone away from her. When he realized most of what was around her lower body was stuck tight, he sighed and turned back to her, patting her cheek to try to wake her as he cast some Cure 3's on her. The bleeding he could see largely stopped at that.

It was as he was running fingers along what he could of her spine to find any damage that she woke with a groan and hiss of pain. "Fucking Hellfire," she muttered. "That you, 'luf?" she asked in a pained tone. It was clear her mind was drifting some—she probably wouldn't stay awake for long.

"Yeah, Sir, it's me. How badly stuck are your legs?" he asked.

She paused, then sighed, "Bad. I can't really feel them." He felt a sinking sensation, but she gave a faint, amused huff and said, "Maybe just shock...Still better than feeling pain. Fuck, Ruluf, you'd better—grab that Materia and get back up to the Shinra building."

"I'm not leaving you here," he replied flatly. "If only I could get a better look at the rocks pinning you down..."

She snorted faintly. "See if your PHS works, moron. And you might have to."

He ignored the second comment, knowing she was right, but pulled out his phone to see if it still worked. While it had taken damage, it seemed to still have enough power to grant a decent amount of light, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't do anything else if it couldn't even tell time anymore. Turning it towards the rocks covering her legs, he eyed them warily, realizing he'd bring down everything above them both if he moved the key stone holding Sirra down. He set the device down so it was shining on that area and sat staring at it for a long minute as he thought about what he could do.

"Ruluf...?" Sirra asked in a weak voice. It wasn't a scared or even a pained tone, just exhausted.

"Yeah?" he asked as he thought about another way to hold up what was above her.

"You've got to go."

He froze for a moment, then asked carefully, "Why?"

"They've attacked," she replied quietly. "And from here, neither of us can let anyone know. The whole city's in danger now. _You have to go_."

Ruluf sighed at the words, then crawled further down the space until he found another piece of debris which would probably be able to hold the one which would otherwise fall if he tried to move it. "I don't think there's a way out until we're dug out."

She didn't answer, and a check showed she was hovering somewhere between awareness and not, so he worked on shoving the stone into place. However, as he was doing so, one of the pieces above them suddenly pulled away and the light from street lamps shone in.

When he looked up, it was at a gruff man, who stared down at him for a moment before asking, "Ratri with you?"

"Yeah, but—she can't just be moved and she took the brunt of the cave-in," Ruluf answered, wondering who the man was.

Nodding, the man said, "Move." Ruluf did and he jumped easily into the hole to check the situation. "Damn, that's gonna be a problem. Right, let's get this one shored up—we'd need heavy machinery to lift the shit above that, so you had the right idea." With his mobility, he was able to retrieve a piece of rock from up above and shove it in on the other side from the one Ruluf had placed, both of those enough at an angle that they'd be able to pull Sirra free. He then said, "Keep your hands on this slab above. If it moves at all, tell me right away." Ruluf did as instructed, and the man gripped the stone they needed to move, pulling it carefully outward.

Soon after, it had been moved and the slab in question was still stable, so the two cleared the rest of the debris and Ruluf gave Sirra more healing before they carefully pulled her free. The Turk then retrieved his PHS (it had data stored which couldn't fall into the wrong hands), wrapped his arm around her waist, and waited below the hole for the man, who had eventually given his name as Shears, to climb out of it. Once he was braced above, he reached a hand back down to Ruluf, who grasped it and let the larger man pull both him and Sirra free. In the light from the streetlights, it became more than obvious that she (they both, actually) was a mess, and he knew they wouldn't have long to save her.

To his surprise, once Shears got them out onto solid ground, he pulled out his PHS and put in a call. When it was answered, he said, "Yeah, found two of your Turks under the rubble of the collapsed street. You'd better send a chopper if you want the woman to live, 'cause she's not going to for long without care at a hospital." After a pause, he said, "Sure," then lowered the PHS to hold it out to Ruluf, saying, "It's Ansha."

Relief entered his gaze as he took the device and said, "Hey, Ansha."

"Ruluf? What are you doing down there?" the woman asked in shock.

"Meeting Sirra. The Wutains apparently decided it'd be great to blow us up, though. And it's true Sirra's in really bad shape," he told her tiredly. Shears snorted at the comment and muttered something which sounded distinctly like 'and you're not?'

"I'll see if Lady Shinra can divert someone to help you. With the battle just getting started, though, I—I really can't promise we'll have someone _to send_," Ansha replied, and he could tell by her voice that she was heart-broken at having to tell him that.

"You already know about that?" he blinked in surprise.

"Shears let us know as soon as he saw the Wutains bolt and the street explode," she answered. "But—just hang tight and do as much as you can for her in the meantime. You know Lady Shinra will do her best to get you help."

"...Yeah," he agreed. "Need Shears again?"

"Just for a moment," she agreed. He passed the PHS back to the man, then tuned him out to look down at Sirra again.

Her eyes opened, but they looked dull, and she struggled to lift her good hand, first to her pocket to pull out the Materia shard she'd taken from Fuhito, then to his hand, pressing the Materia into it. "No matter what, _live_, 'kay, 'luf?" she whispered, then went limp as she dropped back into unconsciousness. With shaking fingers, he checked for her pulse, and while he found one, it was weak. All he could do was wait now, but if the battle had already started...would they be _able_ to get there on time?

"Don't die, Sirra. You've come through too much to die now," he whispered back to her, hoping she'd hear and hold on until help could reach them.

FoWD

From her vantage point, Eonna just had to stare at what she was seeing.

At the moment, like all those assigned to protect the pillars, she and Rude had pretty much been camped out at the Sector 3 pillar—also where the battle was apparently starting. She'd gotten the call to let them know around the time she'd noticed a group on the street heading in their direction, but hadn't realized those were the Wutains until then. In numbers, there were more Wutains than there were people defending the pillars, even counting the two Infantry at the base, but she had to admit, the 'who' was guarding was more important than the number. After all, two Turks (or, hopefully, the four students) and eight SOLDIERs should be enough, with a First, two Seconds, and five Thirds to help in the battle. And their groups all had two Mages.

It didn't change her shock at seeing the Wutains vanishing on the street—if they hadn't already been alerted to both the pending attack and their Mirage Materia, the Wutains could indeed have taken them by surprise.

An impressed whistle beside her made her glance over at the Second who was one of their Mages, and he commented, "That would have been trouble without the warning. And now I know why our teams were arranged like this. We'll be ready to make sure they can't use that invisibility up here."

"Thanks," she agreed, looking back down—and staring in shock again as one of the buildings on their watch list over in Sector 4, barely in view, suddenly exploded outward and many black forms shot into the air. Even knowing the Wutains were approaching, her gaze stayed on the black, winged forms—well over four dozen of them—as they flew upward, and kept flying upward as they headed for the edge of the Plate.

"Well, damn," the Second commented, tone wary. "I hope _those_ aren't joining the battle here..."

"They seemed to be heading for the Upper Plate," Eonna replied. "But if any head this way, you SOLDIERs can behead them for us. For now, the Wutains are our priority. Since they're focused on us just now, we'll hold the pillar, but if they break away and start attacking and killing civilians, we'll have to split our forces and do some damage control." Her gaze moved down towards the base of the pillar, knowing it was nearly impossible to climb one without using the stairs.

"And how would you 'divide our forces', Eonna?" the First with her team asked in a dry tone from behind her and the Second.

"One Turk would stay here with a Mage and two Thirds. The rest can go after the Wutains who run. As long as the Mage stays alert to all angles of attack, including grappling hooks, we should be good," she said plainly. It wasn't even _hard_ to work that out, since it was obvious assessment.

"As long as _you're_ the Turk going after them," he replied.

That made her blink, but she kept her eyes below them. "Why me?"

"Because you have a gun to strike them from a distance," he chuckled. "Up here is mostly going to be close-quarters fighting, but out in the city, if they've broke and run and have a head start, ranged is going to be the best way to 'catch up' to them. And when you need to arrange a division of forces, don't stop at generals, pick people for roles so they know how to react _before_ they need to _do_ it. That's why _we_ were carefully selected and sent here _days_ before the attack was due to happen."

The words amused her for some reason, but she asked teasingly, "Are you trying to instruct me in tactics and strategy _now_, First Riven?"

"You have command rank, too," he replied dryly. "If you don't know how to lead, you'll cause deaths you didn't mean to cause. And I meant what I said. Everyone under your command _needs_ to know their orders _before_ they need to react so they have something to start with. That should only change if something in the circumstances changes in an unforeseen way, which is the only time you'd issue new orders. So next time you talk about splitting forces, pick specific people for the different teams and let them know who's doing what right away."

Below her, both of the Infantrymen hit the ground, so she sighed and pushed back to look at him. "Noted. Pick the SOLDIERs who should stay here, and do it fast. Our two at the bottom of the stair are dead and the Wutains are climbing now."

Riven nodded and called, just loudly enough for the group up in the control room and the walkway to hear, "Second Barrion, Thirds Vider and Shale (1), you'll be staying here with Rude of the Turks if the Wutains run. The rest will pursue and eliminate. And look sharp—our _guests_ are on their way up to join us!"

At the words, everyone immediately perked up and began readying themselves for the coming battle, the two Mages at the control room door.

Rude stepped up beside her and asked, "The Ravens?"

"It looks like they're heading for the Upper Plate, so Ed was right to keep strong defense up there. Still...I hope no one will go after the civilians," she told him, drawing her gun to lean over the side of the walkway rail and aim down at the stair, knowing there was one place where their shadows would give them away due to the lights shining just there.

"At night?" he blinked. "No one's out."

"You should know better than that, Rude," she answered him dryly, and shot as one of those shadows she'd been watching for formed. Sure enough, a Wutain fell on the stairs, and she shot two more before finding her fourth shot deflecting on a Shield-made barrier. "Plenty of people are out at night, and not just criminals." Raising her voice as she pulled back from the rail, she said, "Looks like they have Shield Materia, too."

Riven gave an impressed whistle and asked of the Mages, "Either of you have a Destruct Materia?"

"I do," the Third offered. "It was a gift, but I never thought I'd get use out of it. I'll switch off right now." He pulled a Materia from his bracer, then pulled a different one from a pocket to put it in place and put the one he'd removed into his pocket. "Unless they're using Resist, Despell will take the shield down on the first cast, but if they have Resist, I'll need at least two casts. And plenty of Ethers."

"You'll get what we have until we can find their Shield caster or casters," Riven agreed. "And you just made our jobs a lot easier, so good work."

"Thank you, Sir!" the Mage grinned. An explosion on the stairs just below them, followed by multitudes of curses in Wutain, punctuated his words, causing him to give a wry expression and add, "Speaking of which..."

Taking aim at the top of the stairs, Eonna got off her first shot, and the man it hit went down, but the Shield came up again then. Wutains surged up the stairs, some openly visible and some not, and the battle began in earnest, Rude and the SOLDIERs clashing with them directly.

**Notes:**

(1) You don't have to remember these names, just know that the Second is the Mage who was talking with Eonna at the rail.


	82. 80-Plans Awry

Plans Awry

Ed was sitting with Kariya at the man's kitchen table, both somehow having been unable to sleep, when the call came in. All Ed knew of the discussion was Kariya saying, "We'll be there shortly." He then hung up his PHS, rose, and said in wryly amused worry, "Looks like we couldn't sleep because we sensed the shit was about to hit the fan." Elicia, who was sitting on the table making pictures, straightened and jumped onto Ed's shoulder, the pictures she'd been making with colored pegs abandoned.

"They attacked?" the blond asked as he rose.

"They did. Well, I gather our agent in the Slums attacked, and they're now retaliating," the man clarified. "You should probably go get Yufi, and we have to get to Lady Shinra's office."

Nodding, Ed headed to his room—only to find the girl in question sprawled on her belly in the middle of his bed, even as she held her game device in front of her while playing it. He could hear Shelke giggling in the background as Yufi was saying, "—left path. Didn't you know there's _always_ something special there at night?"

"Yufi," Ed cut in before Shelke could reply, causing the young Wutain to look up at him curiously, and completely unashamedly, for being awake in the middle of the night, and apparently keeping Shelke awake, too. "The attack has started, and we have to go to Lady Shinra's office."

Yufi pushed herself up and said bluntly, "I'm going to go get Shelke, not stay safe with Lady Shinra. I'm fighting, too."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the blond asked, "You really think you can fight monsters like the Ravens, who can only be killed by beheading them?"

"Better than fighting the Wutains," she replied, then dropped her game system on the bed and said, "You can head out. I'm going to change and get going."

"Fine. Be careful, and if Shelke and Shalua are okay with it, at least come back to the building. Even if you may not be able to get inside right away, Knights of the Round will be able to help protect you," Eden told her, then turned to go.

"Okay, thanks!" the girl replied cheerfully, so he went back to Kariay's living room.

"Where is she?" Kariya blinked.

"She's going to go get Shelke and Shalua," Ed answered with a sigh. "And I know better than to try to stop her, so—let's go. She'll sink or swim entirely on her own."

"And take my daughters with her," Kariya scowled.

"Shelke never said anything against Yufi's plan, so she's likely fine with it. You can't protect either of them from things they're on-board with, Kariya."

The words made the man stare for a moment, then sigh and nod. He then led the way to Lady Shinra's office, the two getting into the elevator with Genesis and Sephiroth. The red haired man reached over to rest a hand on the blond's shoulder (obviously the one opposite Elicia) and give it a squeeze.

Kariya looked at the two for a moment, then blinked and asked, "Are you both going to be all right working together? I know you don't get along."

"We're doing better lately," Genesis offered. "It's not the first time we've worked together, so I'm sure we'll be okay."

"That's true," Sephiroth agreed with a faintly amused smile. "And I daresay we're going to end up too widely-spaced eventually to be able to even watch one another's backs. Under the circumstances, I have no idea how ideal that will be, but we'll see."

"You're planning to just tackle the Ravens alone?" the orange haired man glared at the silver haired General.

"No," Genesis grinned outright, making his father focus on him. "We already planned our best bet for effectiveness, which was to stay as close to here, and to one another, for as long as we could. The fact is that not all the Ravens are just going to come right to us, and we have the greatest mobility of all those currently part of Shinra's combat forces. We're going to _have_ to go hunting them eventually."

As Kariya was about to open his mouth again, Ed sighed and said, "Yes, Kariya, all your children have followed in your daredevil footsteps. Get over it and help them be prepared, rather than trying to keep them from doing it."

The man's mouth snapped shut and he glared at the blond as both Genesis and Sephiroth laughed. Right then, the elevator arrived at its destination and all four got off, Genesis facing them as they did to ask, "What are Shelke and Shalua doing?"

"Apparently, Yufi and Shelke are both fine with wandering around the streets while Ravens are flying around," Kariya sighed. "And knowing Shalua, that means she'll go with them."

Genesis gave a slight wince as Sephiroth said, "We can't do anything about that just now, but when we have to leave the rooftop, we'll keep an eye out for them." He gave a nod and wave, heading for the stairs to the President's office, and Genesis also gave a nod as he followed the other man. That left Kariya and Ed to head for Lady Shinra's office on floor sixty-nine.

As they were getting to the door, it was shoved open and a furious-looking Rufus bolted past them and to the elevators, even as his mother called, "Rufus! Come back here!" He blatantly ignored her and was in the elevator before anyone in the room could follow.

Kariya led the way through the now-open door as he asked, "So what was _that_ all about?" Lazard was standing by the window, pinching the bridge of his nose, and the woman in question was still staring after her son. The other Turks in the room were Lenno, Viney, and Illis of the Guards and Balto, Doriss, Cissnei, and Alvis of the Hounds, all of whom were in various states of shock or annoyance. Carbuncle, on the other hand, looked highly amused, ears waving as it sat on the back of Lady Shinra's chair.

"I wanted him to stay as one of my guards, but he apparently decided the city was the better place for him," the woman replied in a tired tone as she rubbed her eyes.

"You _did_ say you wouldn't keep him from fighting when the shit hit the fan," Ed pointed out cautiously. The woman blinked up at him in surprise, so he added, "Keeping him here as your guard just now means keeping him from fighting. No one's actually going to attack you right now—they're all busy with other things. He _knows_ that. I don't blame him for being upset. Did he at least give any idea where he was going to head?"

"By his having mentioned the trains and their defenses, probably the core pillar," Doriss said.

"Okay, so why have Hounds reported here?" Kariya asked in vague amusement. "And how many guards _are_ you planning to keep here?"

Lady Shinra looked amused by the words, but said, "I'm actually not keeping anyone but Lazard and Edward here, which was why I would have kept Rufus. With Verdot stationed at one of the pillars, I've been helping these four keep to their regular work, since they were the only ones left in the office. Now that you're here, we'll need your Summons in place, Edward, and the rest of the Turks will be assigned pairs to handle management of the Ravens if they end up anywhere but here or the Reactors. By the way, where's Yufi?"

"She decided she's heading into town to meet Shelke and Shalua," Kariya sighed.

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose that time as all the Turks' shoulders sagged in shock. Lazard commented acerbically, "Looks like _all_ our 'kids' don't want to cooperated with our carefully-laid plans."

"Well, no plan survives first contact with the enemy," Lady Shinra quipped tiredly. "Though we've done reasonably well so far. Regardless, what's done is done, and we can't afford to do any more than keep an eye out for them while the roamers are out on the streets." She gave her head a shake and said, "Pairs. You all have your zones of familiarity, so I'm going to hold to that for now. Kariya and Viney, you're together and have Sectors One and Two. Balto and Cissnei, you're paired and have Three and Four. Rouse the mercs there if you can. Lenno, Illis, you two can take Five and Six, and Doriss and Alvis, you have Seven and Eight. Like with Balto and Cissnei, see if you can rouse the mercs. Anything else?"

They all traded surprised looks, then nodded and began filing out, Balto and Cissnei first, followed by Lenno and Illis. Kariya sighed and gave Ed's back a light pat before he led Viney out, and Doriss and Alvis stopped in front of him. "Think you'll be okay here on your own?" the woman asked him, one hand on his free shoulder.

He gave her a small smile and agreed, "I should be."

She nodded and said, "Take care, then." She then led the way out as Alvis also gave his shoulder a pat and followed after her.

When they had gone and the door had closed behind them, Lady Shinra said, "Odin and Knights of the Round. Are there any others who can help against the Ravens?"

"To actually kill them, you mean?" Ed asked, closing his eyes to focus on the arrays for the two Summons. "I don't think so. Especially since these ones are resistant to magic damage." They 'both' replied, asking what he needed, so he explained about the attack and the Ravens, and the possibility of some Wutains or terrorists reaching them. He also made sure they knew not to attack anyone helping to protect civilians or who wore certain uniforms, just so he knew they'd be able to tell the difference between an enemy and an ally. He then Summoned Odin to guard the top balcony and Knights of the Round to guard the base of the Shinra building.

"Well, it was a thought," the woman sighed.

"If things devolve too much in the Slums, I can send Summons as extra help for them," Ed offered. "Wutains aren't so resistant and will actually be killed by things other than beheading, and any AVALANCHE members in the area are the same."

For a long moment, the woman was quiet, but then she looked up at him oddly and asked, "Have you got healing-based Summons?" Lazard just watched the exchange curiously.

"Yeah. What kind of healing?" he asked in surprise.

"Anything you've got," she replied. "Recovery from illness as well as injury."

Blinking, the younger blond tipped his head to the side, then asked, "Is someone hurt?"

"Sirra and Ruluf. We don't yet know if they're alive, but if they are, they're going to be in bad shape, and we have no guarantee of being able to reach them in time to get them the medical care they'll need. That includes a strong likelihood of them having infections or being poisoned," she explained.

"Well, Unicorn can remove—pretty much anything like poison, disease, and other effects that can be wrong with a person," Ed offered slowly. "I don't know that it has any sort of limit, either, if the way past Renos used it is any indication. Then there's Kirin, who uses over-time healing. Sylph...But I think, unless there are enemies nearby, Sylph won't be able to provide any healing because that's a drain-type heal. I don't think we have any others at the moment, besides Phoenix, I guess. Again, not ideal when there are no enemies to fight, but Phoenix should still be able to heal and revive without any."

"Hmm..." the woman murmured thoughtfully. "Send Phoenix and Sylph to wander the pillars to help keep the Turks and SOLDIERs defending them in good health. None of them will need healing all the time, so they should be able to make good time by traveling from one to the next. Keep Unicorn and Kirin for whenever we get word about our two down below. Though, if we go too long, we might want you to send them down to the damaged part of the Sector Three Slums regardless."

"Okay," Ed agreed, closing his eyes to ask Phoenix and Sylph to keep tabs on the pillars' defenders so they could gain some extra healing. The Phoenix bird and the three fairies comprising the Sylph 'Summon' agreed cheerfully and he Summoned them into the Slums near the underside of the Plate, near the core pillar in Sector Five, the one he was most familiar with.

When his eyes opened, the woman nodded and said, "The rest is just waiting now."

FoWD

Stroud was sitting on the floor not far from the vending machines on the first floor of the Shinra building, which were sitting off to the side of where the lift to Deepground was. His back was to the wall, and the room was largely darkened because it was night, so in his black Turk uniform, he blended in pretty well. At the moment, he was just absently staring into space as he thought about what Rosso had done to him a few days before, as he still found himself mind-boggled by how he'd been able to do the very thing he'd thought he couldn't. Her words were ingrained into his mind, her accented voice saying over and over again, "You'll be _able_ to fight when you _need_ to."

But _would_ he? Though, he kept coming back to the fact that he _had_ reacted to her in exactly that way.

"Stroud?" a familiar-not-familiar voice asked in mild confusion from several feet away. He looked up and saw Elena, who he'd only met once before, as she made her way to the vending machines near him, apparently scanning them for something. "Are you all right?" She was in the Academy skirt and shirt, and for some reason, she was wearing a gun holster, complete with gun, and even with a sheath on the opposite side for a single, long dagger. Her sweater, however, was nowhere to be seen, and her hair was down, not in the pigtails she usually wore.

"Still thinking about what Rosso did a few days ago," he answered with a small sigh and faint grin. "Why are you all the way down here instead of using the vending machines in the student housing lobby?"

"They're out of the thing I want," she answered in amusement, moving to the next machine—where she quickly grinned, "Ah hah!" and put money in the machine. She hit the code for the item, let it drop to the slot at the bottom, and pulled it free so she could open it and start munching. She then faced him and said, "She's right, you know."

He blinked. "Why's that?"

"You had the strength to instinctively defend yourself," she replied, moving to stand at his feet, still tossing bits of her chosen snack into her mouth. "Your mental trauma hasn't over-ruled your survival instinct, and your instincts can still react so forcefully that you'll fight if you need to. If you can still fight to defend yourself, you can still fight to defend others, all you need is to see them in danger again to force you into action. That doesn't mean you'll just be all better, though, but that you'll be able to get there, and still do what you _need_ to in the meantime. Admittedly, it'll probably be a very long time before you'll be able to assassinate someone, though."

Stroud made a face at that and replied, "I never liked that aspect of either SOLDIER or the Turks—having to kill others who hadn't actually done anything to deserve it."

"Well, now you have a valid reason to just not get those kinds of missions," she answered in amusement. He gave a faint chuckle.

After a pause, he said, "Thanks, Elena. What you said makes more sense than just Rosso's statement alone."

"No problem," she agreed.

The elevator across the lobby suddenly dinged and opened, and Yufi bolted from it, heading for the front doors—and dressed in her full Turk uniform. "Yufi!" Stroud shouted in alarm, pushing himself up as she froze and turned to look at the two of them. "What are you doing this late?"

"Going to get Shelke and Shalua! The Ravens are on their way here!" she replied, then turned towards the doors again.

"What are Ravens?" Elena asked sharply as she noted Stroud pale.

"Some kind of monster that's a cross between a human and a bird that can only be killed by beheading it," Stroud replied. "Yufi, don't go alone!"

"Are you coming with me, then?" she asked, looking back at him with a determined expression.

Elena blinked and said, "Yes, Stroud, you're going with her. And _I'm_ going to go start waking the combat class students to help out here."

"Stick to ones who can fight using some sort of cutting blade!" he called back to Elena as he bolted to catch up to Yufi again, who was nearly at the doors by then after hearing the blond girl say he was to go with her.

"Right!" she called back, heading for the elevator.

All three stopped as the 'hidden' lift door opened with a 'whoosh' and the Tsviets and several members of Deepground poured out from it. Weiss and Rosso paused by Stroud and Yufi so the white haired teen could ask, "What are you doing?"

"Going to get Shelke and Shalua," Stroud replied.

Weiss sighed, but nodded. "They're in which Sector?"

"Three," Yufi replied. "Can we go now?"

"Rosso, keep an eye out for them while you're hunting Ravens, since they're in your territory," Weiss told her, and she nodded. "All right, everyone, you all know where you're headed to, so get going!" he called to the others. He stepped aside as they all ran past him and scattered around the city. Stroud and Yufi also ran out, Rosso staying close to them.

"Why aren't _you_ leaving?" Elena asked him once the rush was done and they were the only two left there.

He looked up at her and said bluntly, "I have to get everyone moving as they come up, or they'll just mill around here. Once they're done, I have my own patrol."

"Mindless drones? Ew," Elena muttered, and he chuckled. "I'm getting the other Academy students who are in combat classes. Stroud said only ones with blades. You agree?"

"If they're staying topside to fight the Ravens, yes," he agreed. "They really can only be killed by beheading and are resistant to magic. If they were going down to the Slums to help there, _anyone_ would be able to help, but I'm not sure they'd be able to get there at this point, since the last train going down is taking the Deepground people heading there, who are the first ones coming up."

She nodded and said, "Noted. I'll be back soon, then." She then quickly went to the elevator and headed up to the student floors.

FoWD

Sephiroth stood out on the balcony near the entry door into the President's office, watching Genesis as the red haired man paced the edge of the large balcony. In the office, the President was still 'working', though by the time the two had gotten to the room, he'd been sprawled on one of the couches in the seating area near the back, sleeping. They had passed through quietly and gone out to the balcony. Not long after they had gotten there, Odin had joined them, and had agreed to their plans for how to handle the situation—he would be the one literally staying to guard the entry door, after all.

When he saw Genesis lean down over the rail, Sephiroth called, "See something?"

"Looks like we'll have company soon. But damn, those Ravens make me want to call them 'a murder of crows' by their numbers," Genesis called back, and the silver haired man moved forward to look over the side of the balcony and towards the edges of the Upper Plate. Black, obviously winged forms were rising up over the edge of the Plate all over the city in flocks, making him blink and stare. Every Sector seemed to have over two dozen, and a few markedly had more, though it seemed Sector 3 wasn't producing any.

"A murder of crows indeed," he sighed faintly. "Where did Fuhito get so many?"

"...My guess?" the other man asked in a pained tone. "A fair number of them are likely his own members. The rest are people who have disappeared off the streets recently."

"...That's morbid," Sephiroth replied with a look of horror. "Why was that your first thought?"

Shrugging, Genesis sighed and straightened, saying, "He never had any loyalty to his members, and they were all fanatical Shinra haters. If he told them this would make them strong enough to tear down Shinra, most would have agreed, not realizing until it was too late what was going to become of them. We'd better get into place."

"They won't be here for at least five more minutes," Sephiroth answered dryly.

"So we let them catch us flat-footed?" Genesis asked in reply, gaze clearly annoyed. He headed for the door to join Odin.

"That's not what I meant," the General replied. "I meant that there's no point in being tense for five whole minutes before we have to fight. That'll just drain _our_ energy. We can be ready without doing that."

"Do I _look_ 'tense' to you?" the red haired man asked irritably.

"_You do now,_" Odin told him in amusement, and surprise took over Genesis' features as his shoulders sagged.

Sephiroth chuckled and shook his head as he joined them and said, "Really, don't take everything I say personally, Genesis. I'm not trying to antagonize or insult you."

The red haired man pouted as the General drew his sword from its sheath and tossed the sheath into the corner by the door. The other man stepped into the office to activate the defense mechanisms for it, stepping back out as the reinforced walls and window covers slid into place. Below them, an alarm sounded and the building defenses started sliding into place, reinforcing every wall and window from the sixty-ninth floor right down to the first. And right on the heels of that shut-down came the Ravens, well over a dozen flying right for the three of them.

"Ready, Genesis?" Sephiroth asked as he held his sword out in front of him.

With a smirk, the Commander drew his blade and lit both his sword and his body with fire as he said, "Absolutely!"

"You, Odin?" the silver haired man asked with a small smirk of his own.

Odin's sword and spear both appeared, one in each hand, as he replied with a clearly smirking voice, "Of course," and even his mount gave a trumpeting whinny.

As the Ravens reached the edge of the balcony, blades raised, all three shifted into 'ready' stances, then launched themselves forward to meet the Ravens half-way. The clash was loud, and no less than seven Ravens were already dead as the SOLDIERs and Odin swung their blades in arcs to strike more than one. It was painfully obvious the Ravens hadn't been protecting their necks on that first attack, not having realized their opponents were going to go straight for them. The ones who hadn't been hit on the first strike paused for a moment, then changed tactics to start guarding their necks.

With excited grins, Genesis and Sephiroth met the new challenge which forced them to fight their opponents while Odin (1) dealt with any who slipped past the other two.

Adrenaline pumped through Sephiroth's veins as he realized these Ravens were quite strong, and they couldn't feel pain. He realized why 'walking corpses' was such an accurate description, and why beheading them would be functional—their brains were obviously still transmitting orders to the body for it to move, so severing the transmission forced the body to collapse. It was annoying how they kept guarding their necks, though, and he hoped he'd hit his Limit Break soon so he'd be able to down a whole swath of them.

But still, he loved the challenge, and by the looks on Genesis' and Odin's faces (for as much of it as could be seen), they did, too.

**Notes:**

(1) Yes, Odin has to actually fight them and decapitate them in the same way as the two SOLDIERs, not do a mass-kill. They're resistant to instant death attacks, and have always been. Except for Zirconaide's brand of mass killing, but that's more like reducing them to pyreflies than 'killing' them...


	83. 81-Defensive Holes

Defensive Holes

As Weiss sent his people into the city, he noted eight Turks also leave the building and split off. Angeal had also left, along with many SOLDIERs who hadn't been allocated already. Of the forces in the city, only certain ones had been put in place before the battle had started; the pillars had been one set of pre-placed defenders, and the other had been the Reactors, which each had a six-man team of a SOLDIER Second and five Deepground members. Everyone else had been left to get into place when the attack began. He knew the logic of it, so had no complaints, though it kept him from joining the patrols right away.

Then, as the first group of Academy students and one of the last groups of Deepground members entered the lobby, an alarm sounded and the building defenses kicked in, sealing the majority of the building, including the doors they still needed to leave by. With a faintly amused sigh, Weiss moved over to the electronic panel beside the front door and began typing in the codes he'd memorized, and soon after, they slid open. "Get out into the city to take your positions," Weiss directed at the Deepground members, so they did. More students had joined the first ones, and some even started coming from the stairwell.

When Elena joined them, he called to her, "Is that everyone, Elena?"

"It should be," she replied. "Other than one more load from the elevator, I think."

He scanned them and noted how they all carried some form of bladed weapon, so nodded and asked, "How many of you have already been told what you're going into?"

"Elena said we'd have to behead them," one student called, and others gave agreement.

"And once you behead one, any others who see that will start defending their necks," he replied, and several blinked. "While calling them 'walking corpses' is accurate, that's not all of it, and they're still intelligent. They also have some form of survival instinct, otherwise they'd be useless to their creators once their weakness became known. Be prepared to fight hard against all but the first one or two you kill, and be prepared to possibly need to work in pairs or more to take one down once they know you know how to kill them."

"Wait, you're not trying to discourage us?" someone asked.

Weiss blinked at him and gave him a flat stare. "I'm fourteen and I'm going out there to fight them, too. There's already two nine-year-olds fully intending to do the same once they meet up in Sector 3. Why in the world would I try to _discourage_ you?"

"That's kinda what your intro sounded like," Elena told him in amusement.

"Exactly how will you be effective combatants if you don't know what you're fighting or what to expect from it?" he asked dryly. "I can't just say 'have at'. I'm a military commander—I _need_ to know my troops know what they're doing, otherwise things will go south very fast. That means _you_ also need to know before you start where to _not_ make false assumptions." He then looked at the others, who looked thoughtful, and told them, "But, to be sure of this, your _lives_ will be on the line, and there may not be anyone in range to help you. If you do this, _you are risking death_. If you aren't absolutely certain you've come to terms with that reality, you don't belong here. For everyone else, brace yourselves and welcome to the battlefield. It may be your first, but it won't be your last, so if you survive, take every lesson from it you can."

"Wow..." someone muttered, but then several students stepped from the gathered crowd to approach him, one of whom was Elena.

"So, if you're nominally our commander until you have to go, where do you want us and what else do we need to watch for? You mentioned Wutains to me before?" Elena asked.

"Some might make it this far," he agreed. "It won't be a large number, but they also make a habit of torture and murder. They don't have to be beheaded to kill them, but unlike the Ravens, they'll help one another and will fight much the way you've seen from Turks. Ravens can fly, but if you damage their wings, you can ground them—magical attacks can do that. There were two noted types, one with less agility and one with more, so you'll likely see both the bulkier and the more slender here. Don't take any lightly or you'll be asking for death. Any of you who have healing, be prepared to use it on allies." As he'd spoken, more and more of the students had lined up with the first group. For some reason, that made him smile faintly.

"As for your positions...Since Ravens have the strength to force a serrated blade through a reinforced metal wall, I'm not so sure Knights of the Round will be able to guard the whole building. If you take over guarding the base of it, the Knights will be able to focus on places you can't reach.. Because you're not Turks and you're not enhanced, if you decide to venture out into the Sectors, go in teams of no less than four and be sure one is a healer. Your priority is to keep your healer alive, especially if your healer has a Revive Materia. Once the rest of the Deepground teams are out in the city, I'll help you position yourselves around the building before taking my patrol, but after that, you're on your own."

He got agreement from them as the last group of Deepground members came up, so he sent them out into the city and led the students outside to direct them to places around the base. Only a few of the students had stayed in the lobby. Because he'd unlocked the door, he kept more students there than around the rest of the building, but as they were just finishing—

A Raven suddenly landed on the ground with a sword belonging to an armored knight in its chest. The sword was withdrawn and the students there all watched in amazement as the Raven almost immediately started to rise, then blinked as it collapsed when the knight used his sword to slice off the Raven's head. He then straightened to eye the students and Weiss.

"You're one of the Knights from Knights of the Round?" the fourteen-year-old asked.

"_I am,_" the Knight agreed.

"These combat class students will help defend the base of the building so you'll be able to attack the ones higher up. And I now have to get to my own position in the city." He faced the students again and said, "Stay steady, and don't be reckless. Remember that you chose to be here, regardless of how things turn out. I...don't normally say this, but, good luck."

He then turned and walked into the city, and saw an incoming Raven on the way. Dropping into a crouch, he sprang up over ten feet into the air to collide with the Raven and to behead it even before they had returned to the ground. He landed easily on his feet while the Raven's head and body fell in a heap on the ground, then kept going. As he did, he heard murmurs of awe from the students—and smiled to himself.

And for some reason, he really hoped most, if not all, of the students would pull through, even though he realistically knew not all of them would survive. Especially when over a dozen Ravens descended on the base of the building and a few others attacked the walls and windows higher up, all at once. A trial by fire.

FoWD

Rufus had been upset to apparently have both of his parents allocate him as a non-combatant during the planning meeting, but when his mother had actually tried to keep him in her office when the attack came, he found himself _furious_. He was a fully trained Turk, had the appropriate ID, and had worked on some very dangerous missions before, so why were they suddenly trying to hold him back? A small part of him knew it was an instinctive reaction to the insanity Edward had brought to their lives since Verde and Tseng had found him, but most of him was just angry all the same.

In his anger, he pretty much stormed to the train station, ignoring his PHS when it rang. Soon after, he was sent a text message, but still ignored it—and a few moments later, he saw a shadow pass overhead and looked up, even as more shadows followed the first. Black wings were the first thing he saw, causing him to pause as he tried to pick out details in the darkness of the night. Some of the city lights actually shone far enough into the sky to bring the winged beings into focus for a few moments as they passed overhead, and he knew they were Ravens.

And he was a fool.

By then, he was much closer to the station than to the Shinra building, so since it seemed the Ravens were ignoring the civilians at the moment, he kept heading for the station. As he went, he pulled out his PHS to check it, having a feeling it was either his mother or his half-brother calling and texting him. The call had been from Lazard, but the text was from his mother, and he was shocked by the fact that it wasn't a demand for him to return to the building.

Instead, it asked: _Where are you heading to, Rufus?_

A look around showed him only a block from the station, so he sighed faintly and admitted to himself that, even if he knew running out like that had been stupid, he was going to stay his course. He replied to her: _The Sector 1 station, and the core pillar. Saw the Ravens fly overhead, by the way. They should be there soon._

It was only as he was stepping inside the station that he got a reply: _All right. Don't be reckless. And if something major comes up, let me know so I can send backup in your direction. I'm trusting you to know the difference. I don't want to see you hurt or dead._

In spite of himself, he smiled faintly, then replied, _I'll keep that in mind._

Turning his attention to the station, he scanned it for the guard force he knew would be there in case Wutains made it that far. It was entirely likely they would stop him from doing anything—they'd probably send him back to the Shinra building—so his best bet was to not be seen. Admittedly, that would have been easier in the Turks' black suit, but since he had never worn the black uniform, he'd have to find another way around the guards. And yes, from partway down the stairs leading to the tracks and the landing platforms, he could see guards, most of them from Deepground, though at least their attention was focused on the tracks in front of them, not what was behind them.

That gave him some breathing room as he scanned back through his memories for other paths around the core pillar. Well, even though most of the blueprints for the area didn't exist anymore, a few areas still had theirs, and after the trip the Guards had taken to track Kariya, more of that had been filled in. Based on what they had recorded of data, there were a few patterns for hidden (maintenance) path locations, and one of those placed an entry point to one, short or long, every so many meters apart, starting from the nearest 'open' path—like the station proper. Though, in this case, he was hoping the nearest would actually be the required number of meters past the last staff door on the platform, since otherwise, he'd have to try to slip past the guards, anyway.

Moving quietly down the platform to the staff door, then pacing himself for the distance he needed, he soon found himself at the only location on the platform a door could possibly be. It was a little close to the line of guards, but still behind them, and the only thing that made him wary was how Argento was one of the ones nearest him. He knew full well why—that was the side nearest where the train would enter the station—but she was more alert and likely to catch him if anyone would. With a faint sigh, he faced the wall and began gently running his fingers over it, searching for a trigger, and suddenly thankful most of the civilians who would usually have been at the station had left as soon as they'd heard the attack had begun.

It didn't take him long to hit a trigger at about light switch height on the wall, and found the passage opening rather quietly. He actually cocked a brow at it, knowing it hadn't been used in decades and should have been entirely rusty—it should have screeched like a downed Zemzelett and maybe even have gotten stuck. Stepping through (and not noticing how Argento saw him as he did), he let it shut behind him, again noting how that wasn't the way these doors typically behaved—they needed to be manually closed, if the Guard's trip into the core had been any indication.

However, as the door shut fully and he found himself in complete darkness, he also saw a faint, green-white glow from behind him and to the left, making him turn to look. Little sparks of light similar to pyreflies were floating around the door and wall to that side, and he saw several pass into or out of the wall as he watched—the same wall the gears and hinges for the door were. Blinking, he tipped his head to the side for a moment, wondering what was causing it, then turned to look down the path, pulling out his PHS to use for light.

The initial path at his level was short, turning several feet in front of him to head in the same direction as the tracks were, so he moved to the corner, and found himself at the head of a set of stairs. Walking down what he thought would be a single half-flight to the level of the track, he realized he had seriously underestimated this particular stair, as it seemed to go down many, many levels, and had doors off the turn landings every two to three, the first being the one leading first to the tracks just below where he'd started from.

However, for how far down it went, did that mean this stair would actually take him down as far as the lower track below this one, partway down the pillar? Would it actually take him right down to the bottom of it? (1)

At the realization of the hole this stair left in their defenses, he felt sick and his blood ran cold. He knew the Slum station, and any Sectors where the track ran near to them, didn't have a proper 'station', and people could just climb up onto the tracks, then start walking up the spiral. They normally didn't due to the likelihood of being hit by the trains, but it was night and there were only rare trains still running, leaving this route a viable one for the Wutains or terrorists. While it was unlikely they 'knew' about it, that didn't mean they wouldn't find it, and for what it was worth, they may also have known to look.

Turning his PHS back to him so he could send a message, he suddenly felt a presence at the top of the stair and spun to face it, seeing—Argento? When she spoke, he knew it was indeed her. "You should not be here," she said plainly.

"I'm a trained and registered Turk, thank you very much," he scowled at her. "If you don't mind, I'm going to inform my mother of this path, because I'm _sure_ it's going to be the death of us if the Wutains find it. For all we know, they _already_ know about it, and the tracks aren't hard to get onto from in the Slums."

The woman sighed, but motioned for him to proceed as she said, "Tell her I'm going with you. I was lucky enough to have one of the very few others in Deepground capable of command on my team, so they can handle the station."

He blinked, but heaved a sigh of his own, then nodded and began typing out his explanation of what he'd found. While he waited for a reply, he and Argento began working their way down the stair, checking where each exit door led to. It took a few minutes, but then he got back the reply, _I'll divert Doriss, Alvis, and Angeal to you shortly. In the meantime, be careful, and let me know if you meet any unwanted guests before those three have joined the two of you. Otherwise, I'm leaving those defenses in your hands._

Blinking in surprise, he asked in return, _You can afford to divert them?_

He could practically _feel_ the smirk in her response: _As it so happens, the merc residence in 8 was both over-loaded because they decided to have a party and over half of them specialize in bladed weapons. They can take over the patrols in 7 and 8 which would have been Doriss, Alvis, and Angeal's watch._

He snorted in amusement, causing Argento to ask, "What did the Lady say?"

"We'll have three others joining us shortly because the merc residence in Sector Eight had exactly what would have been needed to cover their watch," he replied dryly.

"I know Commander Hewley was set to patrol in Seven and Eight, but the specifics for anyone else didn't come up in the meeting," the woman commented, heading down the next flight.

"Doriss and Alvis apparently ended up with those Sectors," he informed her, following her quickly after checking another door.

"Damage and crowd control. Over-all, not a bad group with the two of us," she assessed. After a pause as she opened the door she'd just reached, "We would call that a conspiracy, though a good one in this case."

"Why?" he blinked.

"Chance and luck can only do so much. This is being arranged to go in our favor, and it's being done by a higher force," Argento replied, that time sounding amused.

"You mean like those lights floating around the entry door so it opened well without making a sound?" he asked dryly.

"Just like those," she agreed.

"Well, then, let's make sure we keep this hole closed," Rufus answered, his tone both amused and very much determined and serious. To Argento's agreement, they kept heading down the stair.

FoWD

Stroud and Yufi, followed closely by Rosso, had made good time to the apartment building where Shelke and Shalua now lived, noting how the Ravens had flown overhead not long before they reached it. Since they didn't seem interested in the civilians, Rosso stayed with them, which Stroud found to be a little odd. As they were heading towards the building, well within sight of the front door, the sisters stepped outside and ran to meet them, Shelke asking worriedly, "Did you see those human-birds?"

"Those are the Ravens," Yufi replied flatly. "We're going to head back to the Shinra building, so let's go." The group turned to head back to the building, though they had to move more slowly with the civilians now with them—the two were in decent shape, but not the kind of shape as Rosso, Stroud, or Yufi.

In the end, that was how they ended up caught up in the fighting, because by the time they were half-way back, the Ravens had realized their targets weren't going to be given up easily, and they had changed tactics to attack civilians. Stroud was the first to feel the on-coming attack from above, and was already casting Lighting on all their nearest attackers—six Ravens—when Rosso and Yufi also turned to face them. Seeing the direction of their gaze, Shelke Iced their wings, and because she could remove the 'temporary' state of Materia spell Ice, their wings stayed solid, and all of them hit the ground in unceremonious heaps. Rosso and Yufi were quick to behead the Ravens, but Stroud froze up.

Then there was a yelp from Shelke and Shalua shouted, "Shelke!" Rosso and Yufi turned to look, but had to immediately turn back to the new Ravens descending on them, leaving Stroud to stare as Shelke was dragged upward by a Raven. The girl was kicking and screaming, and even trying to cast magic on them, but she knew better than to cast something which would down the Raven from the height they were at, and effect spells weren't working.

He couldn't just do nothing! Shelke was being kidnapped, and he couldn't—!

Suddenly, his body was moving to follow them as his eyes both scanned his surroundings and kept Shelke and the Raven in sight. He was at an extreme disadvantage, and the only thing currently in his favor was how the Raven was trying to gain height, not choose a direction to fly. Suddenly, he supposed Shelke had done something the Raven didn't like and it was dangling her by one wrist, forcing her to go limp or risk falling to her death. Behind him, he heard Shalua yell for her sister in horror.

"Down him, Shelke!" Stroud suddenly shouted, knowing he was close enough—and that he soon wouldn't be if she stopped making life difficult for the Raven.

A moment later, before the Raven could react, ice which glowed red encased the Raven's wings and he began falling, losing his grip on Shelke's wrist in the process, and Shalua shrieked as she saw her sister going into free-fall, even as Shelke screamed. He already knew what to do, as he'd tried it a few times during training, especially when he hadn't been able to practice with his blades. He'd thought Float (which he'd found in the Nibel Mountains before Verde and Illis had arrived) would break a person's fall, but it actually didn't for a person, because it was forcing the target to stop two feet above ground level. A human body got whiplash at best from such an abrupt halt, but that didn't mean Float couldn't be used.

And as he realized Shelke was low enough for him to jump and catch, he did so, casting Float on himself at the same time. That way, his impact with Shelke, which also changed her direction, broke her fall, and Float could then safely catch them. A few moments later, the sound of a violent explosion came from a few feet away, sending them flying into the wall of a building with some burns. Stroud took the brunt of hitting the wall, and Shelke took the brunt of the burns, and she burst into tears as she whined with pain.

Since Float was still active, they didn't actually hit the ground after hitting the wall, and they were being kept above the ground so burns weren't overly painful with no actual pressure being put on them. It was all Stroud could do to cast some healing, though, and the healing was augmented by someone else, though he wasn't sure who. Once Shelke had regained her bearings, she also cast healing on them, and her healing was much superior to any of the others'. There was nothing they could do about the damage to their clothes, so the two just got up and Stroud released Float. Once they were on the ground, Shalua and Yufi both hugged Shelke tightly.

"We should proceed to the Shinra building," Rosso said, gaze on the sky. The others looked up, seeing roaming Ravens above. It was true they couldn't stay there.

"What happened to the one that grabbed Shelke?" Stroud asked as the group turned towards the Shinra building again.

Shelke gave a watery chuckle and said, "Genesis taught me to 'weaponize' my ice flowers by making them glow with fire. I figured that would work on a normal ice casting, too, but I manually 'pulled the pin' to make it explode. So yeah...I kinda blew up the Raven with a magic-made grenade."

He glanced back at her in surprise, as did Rosso, and Shalua was gaping at her as Yufi grinned. "That was the explosion?" he asked. She nodded. "That's shockingly powerful magic you know."

"That's part of why they're after me," she replied, rubbing one of the burnt holes in her shirt.

Again, Stroud felt the sense of danger from behind, and that time, he spun and jumped into the air as he drew his blades, slashing with them—and slicing off a Raven's head as he did. He landed crouched right behind Shelke, and the Raven fell in a heap at his feet, leaving him feeling somewhat mind-boggled.

A thump on his shoulder made him turn to look at a grateful Shalua, who said, "Thanks for protecting Shelke. Again." The whole group had stopped, and Rosso had just taken out another Raven which had been focused on Yufi.

After a short, surprised pause, he nodded, and said, "Let's keep going." They did, soon returning to the building to join the guard at the front doors with Elena and the other Academy students while Rosso headed back into the city. It amused Stroud to find that the blond combat student was effectively acting as their leader as things came up, and he realized she was skilled with more than one weapon by how well she handled her long dagger to fight the Ravens.

**Notes:**

(1) The train tracks circle the core pillar twice completely, plus the ends to have them attach to the Sector 1 and Sector 7 stations. That means the stairs have three places to possibly come out at besides the one Rufus starts at—two hits on the track, and one at the base of the pillar.


	84. 82-Foolish Advantage

**A/N:** There's a lot going on in the city, so to simplify some of the distribution of forces, here's a list. Feel free to skip it unless you're confused about who's where.

1) Turks/SOLDIERs NOT in the city are: Anki, Reno, Percia, Lakis, Verde, and Zack.

2) Locations with live-in guards (until the pending attack) are:

The Reactors (7 current) = 1 SOLDIER Second and 5 Deepground members; and  
The central Plate support pillar control rooms (8 current) = 8 SOLDIERs (1 First, 2 Seconds, 5 Thirds), and 2 Turks, except for pillar 5, which has 4 trial Turks instead. Two of each group of pillar defenders have Mage skills.

3) The Shinra building is being defended by Sephiroth, Genesis, and Odin at the top and Knights of the Round and the Academy students around the base (including Elena, Shelke, Yufi, and Shalua). Stroud is there (he ends up helping out), and Lady Shinra, Lazard, and Ed are coordinating from her office.

4) Roaming the Upper Plate are blade users, including most of SOLDIER, Angeal, the remaining Turks in pairs, Weiss, Rosso, and Nero, and some mercenaries once they're roused.

5) Roaming the Lower Plate in regular patrols and in added units once the attack starts are most of Deepground and Azul, with only the SOLDIERs whose patrols were there.

6) Guarding the Sector 1 train station are Argento and a unit of Deepground members.

7) Shears, Sirra, and Ruluf are in the Sector 3 Slums.

8) Rufus found a hole, so Argento, Angeal, Doriss, and Alvis are diverted to deal with it.

Sorry for the long A/N (part of which will be gone next week), **now on with the story!**

Foolish Advantage

Ruluf sighed as he stared blankly out at the damaged street from the mouth of the alley Shears had moved him and Sirra to. She was still holding on (though it hadn't been that long since they'd been dug up), and he was determined to keep her close until either help arrived or she passed on, though he dearly hoped the latter wouldn't happen. He began to wonder exactly when he'd begun to just—not care about the line between the Hounds and the Guards, even to the point that he would kill for her, or brave the Hounds' office without fear of being attacked. It was odd, but she really was like his sister, and all brothers were protective of their sisters...And he still wasn't completely sure when that had changed. Before the day he'd been injured and she'd taken him to her place, for sure.

Just then, because neither of them were mobile or even uninjured, he had put his back to the alley wall and was holding Sirra in his lap and against his chest, trying to keep the areas of pressure between them to a minimum. After all, they were covered in burns, and other damage as well. Across the alley from him was a mother sitting up with her child in her lap, but he couldn't tell if it was a girl or a boy, and a bit further down were two men, one sitting and one laying against the wall. All of the other nearby alleys had been appropriated for a similar use around the damaged street, and a couple patrols of Deepground members had joined them to help clean things up.

Suddenly, a trumpeting whinny sounded and he gaped in surprise as energy washed over him, Sirra, and the other four people in the alley with them. That energy immediately helped him feel better, and he also felt his injuries start to slowly knit together; a look down at Sirra showed hers actively healing, though slowly. His gaze moved upward, to the air above the street, where he saw two quadrupedal, hooved mammals (sort-of mammals, as one was scaled?) prancing up and down the length of the damaged street, both sending out waves of healing energy. It seemed, as the scaled one sent out its energy, that physical wounds healed, so the colorful, single-horned one was...healing illness, infection, poison, and the like?

He felt Sirra move and mutter, "The fuck, 'luf?" and a sudden feeling of elation hit him, causing him to instinctively shift his hold on her so her head leaned against his shoulder.

"It looks like a pair of Summons have come to help heal everyone," he told her.

The woman tipped her head and opened her eyes to focus on the street—and on the two Summons as they paused at the entrance to the alley where they sat. He let her take whatever time she needed to process the sight, even as the two beings moved on, and chuckled when she just repeated, "The fuck, 'luf?"

"Were you told about Percia's informant network?" he asked.

"Yeah. So?" she asked.

"Their leader, Shears, was working in this Sector when you offed Fuhito, and he saw the fallout. He's also the one who dug us out of the passage under the street, and moved us over to solid land. He let them know about the pending attack, too. Then those two Summons turned up, and they apparently give a good bit of healing, even though the scaled one seems to be more of a Regen-type heal," the younger Turk explained.

"Heh, with our injuries, we'd need over-time healing for a bit before we'd be able to take the real deal," Sirra replied in sardonic amusement. "But why are they here?"

"Um...My best guess is Ed?" he blinked, wondering about that himself.

"Your little blond stray has completely unknown Summons?" the woman asked, tone amused as she relaxed against him and closed her eyes again, breath coming much easier.

"Well, that's what Carbuncle is," he snorted. "But yes, he seems to have 'completely unknown Summons' to play with, and even very rare and powerful ones like Knights of the Round."

"Holy Hellfire. That little stray of yours isn't so useless after all," she muttered, giving her head a small shake.

"Sirra..." Ruluf sighed in vague amusement. "He never was. You just didn't have all the details."

"Yeah...'Kay, let me rest a bit more while that healing works on me," Sirra answered, settling where she was.

Ruluf had to blink in mild surprise, knowing she fell in the category of 'aloof' and wasn't one to be very demonstrative of caring—and yet, she was being very much so just then. To an extent, he could have thought it was just a lack of desire to move with her injuries, but from previous incidences when she'd been injured, he knew she'd be more likely to shift over to sit beside someone once she was even semi-aware and mobile. It hadn't occurred to him before then that she might actually be as comfortable with him as he was with her, which spoke a lot about the amount of trust she had for him.

And he was glad of it.

FoWD

Dressed in Turk uniforms, four of the students from the Shinra Combat Academy were acting as the Turk guards at the Sector 5 central Plate support pillar alongside the SOLDIERs. Three of them were young men, and the last was a young woman. She had already paced the entire space around the control room near the top of the pillar several times, learning what was where, what dimensions she had to work with, and setting up some of their magical defenses against attack—they had only one SOLDIER Mage because she was one herself. In fact, she specialized in it, including using the same Mirage spells as the Wutains—though she also could 'make herself invisible' without that. And that was despite how her hair was dyed completely in medium-dark blue with streaks of dark purple and how her eyes were nearly as bright a blue as a SOLDIER's.

She'd have been lying if she'd said she wasn't nervous. In fact, when the Turks had approached her to join in the operation, she'd even said they should take Elena instead of her, since Elena was _a lot_ more skilled with all kinds of combat...Only to be told Elena was already going to be helping them in another capacity. With her chance to unobtrusively decline shot to Hellfire and back, she had needed to think about the proposition and whether or not she was willing to step forward into being a full-fledged Turk if things went well. To her surprise, the man who had spoken with her had allowed her to take the time she needed to think it through, but in the end, she'd come to one major realization.

Participating in this defensive measure just now guaranteed her a place in the Turks as long as she survived and the pillar stayed whole. And she really wanted to be a Turk, whether or not she felt ready for it at only fifteen years old.

And now, here she was, shy little Tiana Sampson, wearing the Turk uniform and responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. She'd never known such a responsibility could have tangible weight on a person before, but now she did, and of the others with her, she knew all the SOLDIERs felt it—they showed their apprehension less, though, as they were used to it—and two of the guys also dressed as Turks did. She was thankful Dominic (who also was oddly good at staying out of sight despite having pale auburn hair and red eyes), one of her few fairly close friends, was one of them. Then again, she'd always known he was serious and didn't take his 'job' lightly, especially when lives depended on his own ability.

But the fourth of the trial Turks...He was treating it like a huge game. Admittedly, that could have been deliberate to cover nerves, but she didn't think so, because he'd _always_ been arrogant. And he was known to underestimate opponents he'd never fought before, assuming they were 'weak' until they'd defeated him. The only problem was, this was for keeps. There was no getting back up. There was no do-over. And she was sure he hadn't realized that yet, would only realize it when it was too late.

Several of her traps on the stair triggered, making her look over the railing to check below them, using Sense to get a read on where the Wutains were and roughly how many were on their way up. Because her traps were quiet ones, more like an alarm, she knew they didn't know they'd been caught. Over her shoulder, she called, "Incoming, about half-way up! I'm counting about twenty so far."

"Thanks for the heads-up, Ti!" Sven, the arrogant one, smirked, turning to the stairs.

"All right, Lady Turk, since you're one of our Mages and aren't fantastic with weapons, keep back. We're going to be counting on you to make sure we can hit them, or survive their attacks on us," the First in charge of their group immediately said.

"I planned to stay back," Tiana agreed, then looked at her fellow trial Turks. "For you, though, I can cast Invis on you so you can all get at least one free hit."

"Sure thing," Dominic agreed with a nod, one of his dirks in one hand and a thin, long needle in the other. She knew the latter meant he planned to essentially assassinate at least one person today, and was just thankful it was a Wutain who they knew was planning to destroy a whole Sector of Midgar—two whole towns. Sven and the last trial Turk, Brent, at least had the sense to take her up on the offer as well, so soon, all four (trial) Turks were invisible and were able to move easily into good places without the Wutains knowing it.

She stayed off to the side by the rail, since she had a good view of both the platform and the stair from there. A look over the side of the rail with Sense showed the Wutains nearing the explosive trap they had placed on their way up. A sudden thought about the Infantrymen made her look down to the base of the stair, where she could just see their forms unmoving on the ground. It was unlikely they were just unconscious, and she gave a small, nervous swallow. Her thoughts were interrupted by the bomb going off, directed upward and outward, causing most of the Wutains to lose their Invis status and giving them minor injuries. In other circumstances, their cursing in Wutain would have made her smile or chuckle, but just now...It made her apprehensive.

Someone was going to die, and she didn't mean the Wutains (though, they would, too).

Soon after, the enemies reached the top of the stair, and the SOLDIERs managed to take three out before they either went back into Invis mode or became Shielded, so she worked on removing their states with Despell. The chaos at the head of the stair made her frown, but then a Wutain part-way down the stair fell, and Shield was suddenly no longer in their repertoire. She was sure that was Dominic's doing, since he was the same kind of tactician as her—target the problem casters first. As she took a few moments to heal some of the SOLDIERs, she saw Brent meet one of the Wutains in battle just past the first rank of SOLDIERs.

She began moving forward, just enough to get a good angle to cast an Ice 2 on the Wutain—who suddenly hissed something and tossed a small object into the air. A grenade, her mind supplied. And if it came down, by its trajectory, it was going to hit the control room, but he hadn't thrown it straight forward because there were still SOLDIERs and a (trial) Turk in his way. Apparently, she wasn't the only one to notice that, and the SOLDIER Mage cast Fire on the grenade before it had gone far, forcing it to blow up not far above them.

Everyone on the platform was forced down and back from the explosion point, and she felt herself hit the railing behind her hard enough to daze her for a few moments (which also made her visible). She watched in something like vague horror, her head turning slightly to follow the motion, as Sven shoved himself up with a laugh and jumped down to the lower stair, where several Wutains were still coming up, planning to attack them. It felt surreal and sickening as the Wutains used their gunlances to dismember him—legs, arms, head. She swallowed hard by reflex as she saw the parts of his body fall to the ground below, still dazed by her fall. And yet, she couldn't look away.

"Tiana!" Dominic shouted in alarm, forcibly pulling her from her daze and drawing her eyes to the platform. A Wutain woman was standing above her, gunlance ready to strike, and—

She snapped.

Before she'd even realized it, she hit her Limit Break, and every one of the Wutains on the platform and stair suddenly became random assortments of animals and weak monsters. A few turned spirit-form and fell through the platform or stair, but most stayed solid, ranging from cats to ducks to Mus and Kalm Fangs. After a shocked pause, the assortment of creatures suddenly panicked—and most of them ended up sprawled unceremoniously on their faces because they had no idea how to coordinate the movement of their new body shape.

Another moment passed, then the SOLDIERs, Dominic, and Brent burst out laughing, both Dominic and their First calling to her, "Nice one, Lady Turk!" Even she had to chuckle at the spectacle.

After that, the battle was easy, and it was just a matter of catching the—she thought it was three—Wutains who had turned into spirits and ended up floating in the air at random points. Just as she was rising, that also became irrelevant, as a Phoenix Summon flew by below, using a wave of flames to utterly destroy the last few Wutains as all of the defenders who were still alive gained healing.

"Why didn't you ever tell me what your Limit Break would do, Ti?" Dominic asked, leaning on the rail beside her.

"I actually didn't know it would do that until now," she replied dryly. "I've never done it before."

"I like it, I admit," he answered, reaching up to grip her shoulder. "You're definitely Turk material."

"So are you, going after the one with the Shield Materia right away," she smiled in reply, bumping his arm with her shoulder.

"Well, we'd better stay alert, just in case," he sighed after a pause. She nodded and began replacing her magical alarms on the stair. They didn't have time to mourn Sven or acknowledge all the other deaths, but she wasn't looking forward to 'later', when she'd have to face all that...

FoWD

Pillars 4, 6, and 7 were all secured quickly thanks to the very high-level skills of those posted at them, the Turks especially. Tseng and Ansha, Verdot and Maur, and Vincent and Donnel had held them admirably, and because they'd had slightly smaller groups of Wutains to deal with, none had gotten the chance to run, or hadn't made it far if they had. To offset that, however, Deepground and SOLDIER patrols in those Sectors had been chasing down members of AVALANCHE, who had been doing damage elsewhere. And they were also the first ones to realize some of the citizens of Midgar were taking advantage of the chaos to rob and ransack various stores or other facilities.

From her position, Emma could see some of the chaos below as that robbing and ransacking happened in Sector 1, but caught in battle as she and Judet currently were at the top of the Sector 1 support pillar, there was nothing they could do about it. These Wutains were proving to be the sort who were best described as 'tough as nails', and even with Judet being highly trained in martial arts, even before she'd gotten to the Turks, they weren't going down easily. The SOLDIERs, too, were having a tough time of things, and more than once, her position as a sniper had saved all of them. The numbers were finally starting to dwindle, though.

Once again, she turned to scan behind her, feeling like someone was there and not being able to see or target them. She knew they used Invis, but surely magic could target that anyway? Especially when she was using an All to make the Lightning attacks hit several who were in range. Turning back to the battle in front of her, she began to wonder if she was becoming paranoid, but when the sense came again, stronger than previously, she _knew_ someone else was there.

That time, she turned away from the battle and began walking softly to the general location of the sense—and quite literally walked into a man who was crouched between the rear rail and the back wall of the control room. His start threw him backwards and over the rail—but as soon as he realized he was falling, he seized her arm and pulled her with him over it. Emma knew they were both screwed, but her gaze had moved to his other hand...

And she could see a high-powered bomb in it. A pillar destroyer.

"Asshole!" she snarled at him, ignoring how they were both falling to instead kick him further down ahead of her (which incidentally slowed her own fall as well as speeding up his), then aim a Lightning spell at the bomb. It hit, and the explosion started, and she knew she was going to die, even as the flames washed over her—

Only to realize belatedly that the flames didn't hurt!

And she lost her train of thought as a jolt onto something soft and feathery left her laying still in utter shock, staring blankly at the red feathers in front of her eyes. A few moments later, she gasped and shook herself, blinking away the dazed state and pushing herself up to see what was going on. It seemed she was...riding on the back of a Phoenix Summon? Yes, by its looks and rainbow colored wing feathers, that was indeed the case, and her current perch let her see a large part of the Sector 1 Slums, including the pillar. Though, she was too far to see what was happening there just then.

A look down at her body showed a lot of her uniform burnt and tattered, but the important parts were still—thankfully—covered. With her burns healed, she was still fit to fight, so she asked, "Phoenix, do the pillars' defenders need me back?"

"_With my assistance, no. Is there another place you wish to go?_" Phoenix asked.

Looking down towards the town, she replied, "Anywhere in the Sector 1 town. There's robbing and ransacking to stop. And thanks a bunch for the save back there."

"_You are welcome,_" the bird Summon agreed, then flew down close to a rooftop which was three stories above street level, which she managed to jump down onto. As the bird flew away, she waved to it, then gripped her gun, checked her bullets, and turned to look for the idiots who thought they should take advantage. And damn, she was pissed about them. Assholes!

It didn't take long for her to find her first group in a store, or to gun them down without mercy. And it was only then when she remembered to call Judet and let her know she was okay...But before she'd finished the call, her PHS cracked apart from the explosion damage it had suffered, making her sigh and move on. At least Judet knew she was all right, as she'd been able to affirm that much to the other woman before her PHS had fallen apart.

FoWD

Rosso had gotten into a pattern by then, generally one of passing down a street and killing Ravens she saw, turning down a block and maybe killing Ravens, if she saw any on that block, then turning back down another long street and killing more Ravens. It was a system which returned her either to the Shinra building or the edge of the Plate every so often, and because one of her enhancements was speed, she could do it much faster than others. She was surprised to find the students doing well, and had to raise a brow at how Elena did indeed seem to be a commander amongst the students.

Early on, it had seemed like there were a lot of Ravens. And there had been, there was no doubt about that, but now, they had spread out over the city and it was rare to find more than two together. It was also infrequent to find them at all, but they had attacked civilians more than once, and it looked like they were targeting the same people who had been being watched in the Slums and later moved onto the Plate. Had those targets been ingrained in them before they'd been unleashed just because others around them had been after them? With Fuhito apparently dead and the Wutains attacking full force, would it really do them any good to collect or kill them now?

Suddenly, she heard a noise in the building she was passing which had sounded like someone saying urgently, "Hurry, hurry!" Stopping, she turned to look, and saw a store...with open hours which had ended several hours ago.

Going to the door, which was propped open, she stopped and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned on the jamb and gazed in lack of comprehension at the men in the store. There were six that she could see, and possibly one or two behind shelves nearer the back, as they clearly worked to shove store products into bags they were carrying. All of the men looked like average, working class men, ones who made enough to live on the Upper Plate but were by no means wealthy.

Was she really witnessing a robbery during an attack on the city by terrorists?

"Really?" she asked out loud, startling them into facing her. When they did, looking confused, she asked, "The city is under attack and you're adding robbery to the list of attacks just now?"

They traded looks, then one smirked and agreed, "Why not? It's not like anyone's paying attention to us just now, so this is the best time to do it."

Her brow rose and she asked in amazement, "There are really people like that in the world?"

"Yeah," the man shrugged. "Now go back to your patrols so we can keep working."

"Oh, no," she answered, voice turning cold and hard as she straightened. "You're either putting everything back and leaving quietly, or you're all going to die. People like you are the kind who give _everyone_ a bad name, so it's better to eliminate you now that you've shown your true colors, scum."

They turned back to her in surprise, then one of the other men snorted and chuckled, "Really? You think you can stop us, _little girl_?" while others laughed and jeered.

And it was people like them who had been the reason she had pushed herself so hard to become so strong in the first place. It was people who saw a child and thought she was no threat, people who saw a female and thought she was no threat, who had pushed her to prove that women couldn't be taken lightly. And that attitude towards someone the whole city knew was one of the Deepground Tsviets completely pissed her off.

As she drew her blade and shot forward to attack them, she felt absolutely no regret at spilling their blood. Since she'd even given them fair warning, that was doubly true. It was the work of only a couple minutes to kill them all, only because she had to chase the last few down a few of the aisles. _That_ would teach them to think she was weak.

Then again, if they were dead, she didn't think they would be thinking much of anything. The realization produced an 'oh, well' moment before she just shrugged and passed it off as them being assholes and deserving what they'd gotten anyway. She made her way out of the shop and removed the wedge they'd put under the door to keep it open, letting it close behind her as she pulled out her PHS to call Weiss.

"What's the matter, Rosso?" the younger Tsviet asked curiously.

"It seems there's some robbing going on during the attack," she told him.

He sighed and replied, "I'll pass word on and we'll add a criminal watch to our list of duties. Handle them however you see fit—we don't have time to play around with them in these circumstances."

"Of course," she agreed with a grin. "Later, then." Hanging up, she turned to keep going on her way, but now watching for possible break-ins as well as Ravens.

This was turning out to be fun! And full of surprises. Though, they weren't all good surprises, but at least they weren't all bad, either.


	85. 83-Sable and Death

**A/N:** The final results of the poll were:

1) Yes, do an original world with either/both Omegas = 3 votes

2) Yes, do an original world with the FoWD Omega = 1 vote

3) I don't care if you do an original world, but use the FoWD Omega = 1 vote

4) No, I don't want to see an original world = 1 vote

All three other options weren't voted for, so aren't included. Keep in mind that anyone who doesn't want to see an original world is always free to choose not to read that particular branch of the series.

So yeah, by the breakdown of votes, I'll eventually get to an original world they'll land on, and it'll be with the FoWD Omega. It should end up somewhere in the list around the worlds voted at 4 and 5 votes, depending on what fits together better for me at the time.

In the meantime, I've gotten all of the CA branch stories started (O.O The last week was a little crazy and my brain decided to start a half-dozen different stories rather than write further on the main ones); it's just a matter of getting them fully written. Homecoming and Primal Deceit are at the top of the list and being developed more than the others.

Most of my future polls are chosen, but there's only one I could just toss up on my profile page. Since I just finished a poll, it won't be going up right away (maybe in about a month?), and all other polls can't go up until certain requirements are met.

Now, on with the story! Have fun with this chapter!

Sable and Death

Landing on a nearby rooftop after killing two store robbers (well, in his case, it was more like making them no longer exist), Nero lifted his eyes to the sky, scanning it for more Ravens to eliminate. He was glad their extermination orders had been expanded, so in a way, he was thankful to the criminals doing the robbing, even if he was mind-boggled that they would. On the other hand, he was annoyed with Weiss sending him an additional warning not to harm ordinary civilians on the street, and to try not to do huge amounts of damage to the shops in the name of stopping the criminals. It was still easier to do his job if people weren't completely off-limits, though, so he wouldn't complain about the warning—he almost expected it from Weiss by now.

On the other hand, he really owed nothing to anyone, because the only person who didn't shun or fear him was his older brother. Being nice was hard, especially when it didn't matter how nice he was, they were never going to like him. It would just be a lot easier to kill them. In the meantime, if all he had was to kill criminals and the Ravens, he'd settle for that.

Speaking of which, he sent two balls of his void power into the sky, completely obliterating two Ravens, save a few stray feathers. He could see others flying around further away, but there was no way he could reach them while he was ground-bound, and while he had devices 'like' skeletal wings on his shoulder blades, they were actually mostly useless and very cumbersome. He certainly couldn't fly with them. And that annoyed him. In his annoyance, he chose to see a fifteen-year-old jogging by below with a school bag over one shoulder as a criminal and sent a ball of (very frustrated) void power at him.

The result tore out a chunk of the sidewalk and street (and the nearest building wall), which reached right down to the sewers, making him sigh. He'd get a reprimand now.

Suddenly, he internally snarled, wondering why he should get a reprimand for doing his job with a power which was purely destructive. As much as he cared about his brother, revered him, even, he kept silently wishing Weiss would change his mind and just let loose, let all of them let loose! It would be so much easier and so much more fun. What he knew, however, was that wishing wouldn't do him any good, because ever since Weiss and Argento had somehow come to friendly terms, the paler brother had become a lot more cautious, and even a lot more _gentle_.

Gentle. The exact opposite of Deepground.

...Maybe his brother would go back to normal if Argento died?

That would mean betraying a Tsviet, but somehow, the thought of having his brother to himself again negated any guilt he may have felt at betraying one of his own. They were all just fodder anyway. Why not kill anyone he saw fit? All of _them_ feared him just as much as the civilians did.

And again he noted a Raven in his range, so sent another ball of void power at it, charging it with all the emotion he normally couldn't. That time, the result was a lot more spectacular, as it created a massive, black bubble in the air which was vibrating with red, white, blue, and black electrical currents. It also didn't fade quickly, and he watched the red and blue currents merge into purple ones hued with red. Somehow, he thought that was pretty.

_:They have given me a wonderful son this time!:_ a woman's voice breathed into his mind, and it almost felt like he was being hugged by something. _:I am so proud of you, little Nero.:_ He somehow knew her attention was focused on that black bubble as she said it, and she seemed almost saddened as it began to fade.

"Who are you?" he asked in shock, feeling wary by having the unknown voice talking to him, but also feeling elated that she _approved of_ his power.

_:Shh...Return your thoughts to me, don't speak out loud. You know me now, ever since they began giving members of Deepground much greater quantities of my cells. But of them all, you have been given the most, my new son, and you are indeed worthy of them. I do so hope you'll be a good boy instead of betraying me, your _mother_, the way my other three sons have,:_ she returned to him, her voice cajoling and warm, even possessive.

"You—" he began, then paused and focused his thoughts instead. _:You aren't afraid of me or my power?:_

_:Of course not,:_ she replied, and he felt like he was being hugged again. _:There is nothing terrifying about your power, at least not to me. If anything, you are the single most skilled and powerful of all my children—everything I could ever hope for or want in a son of mine, and I absolutely love you and everything you can do for me. For us.:_

_:...Who _are_ you? And what is it you're trying to do?:_ he asked, torn between hope of being loved for himself and fear of it being a trick or trap.

_:I—I am Jenova,:_ she returned to him, and his eyes widened as he recalled the experiments done on him and some of the other Deepground members to add her cells to them in hopes of stabilizing their powers. _:And I am trying to take my world back from the usurpers who have stolen it away. You are being held back so very much—the people of this world all rightly deserve death, to feel your wrath. And I would have you do exactly that, very soon. To kill as much as you like, to kill anyone you like—that is your greatest wish, yes? To let loose? I would like to see you do so. Soon, soon. I just need the means to crush those meddling Ancients.:_

_:...Are two people really so harmful to you?:_ Nero asked, feeling both a sense of dread and a much stronger sense of joy and eagerness.

_:There aren't only two of them, the others are merely hidden under everyone's noses, and the one opposed to me has also stolen my other sons, made them turn away from my will. You won't do that, will you, Nero?:_

"No!" he gasped out, worried about her withdrawing her support if he hesitated. He then blinked as another Raven flew into his view, but two more were further away, outside the range of his power.

_:Shall I teach you to fly, my son? So you can reach them and kill them as you like?:_ she asked in an almost smug, purring tone.

_:Yes, please!:_ he agreed eagerly.

_:Let me take hold and show you how...:_ she murmured gently.

For a moment, he hesitated, but then agreed willingly, _:Okay.:_ Flying would be wonderful, after all!

It was only as he felt her awareness surge through his own and take it over completely that he began to think he'd made a terrible mistake, but his thoughts were distracted by agony at his shoulder blades as he cried out in pain and fell to his hands and knees. The pain receded shockingly quickly, but now there was a heavier weight on his back which made him turn to look—only to see his metal wing frames covered in the membrane of wings like a bat's!

Since Jenova still had control of his mind and body, she made it rise, made it take to the air, and—paused as she actually seemed confused by how to use his void power. That was somehow amusing, but he showed her how to aim and activate it, and now that he could fly, he could hit a lot more of them. As they flew and killed, she wrapped him in warmth and possessive love, and having never, ever felt such a thing before, he soaked it up and mentally called her 'Mother'. She preened, and gradually began releasing control of his body back to him.

_:Soon,:_ she whispered. _:Soon this world will belong to us, its rightful owners.:_

_:Soon,:_ Nero agreed, sticking to his current orders. She would let him know when it was time, and he was sure she'd let him save Weiss. He didn't need anyone but his new mother and his brother, and her agreement assuaged any fear he'd had that he may have chosen the wrong path.

No one else mattered to him, anyway.

FoWD

Genesis and Sephiroth had taken to the air to hunt Ravens in an ever-increasing spiral working outward from the Shinra building. After the initial attack on the balcony, they had only met one more wave of them there, so there was very quickly no point to all three of them staying there, especially since they were fully intending to prioritize the Ravens highest in the air. After several scuffles near the building, they had begun working further out, both of them circling it on opposite sides of the building so they could cover more area faster. The only thing Genesis regretted was the fact that he couldn't possibly chase the Ravens into the city while still maintaining his watch.

As he was circling one side of the building, however, a ball of black energy crackling with other colors suddenly formed and drew his attention, making him pull up short as he realized it was Nero's void power. Facing it, he just stared as it stayed, and stayed, and even morphed to electrical lines of other colors besides the ones it had started with. While he knew he shouldn't leave his patrol, he turned to fly over to the area near that ball, scanning the ground for Nero while keeping a good distance. After a bit, he found the rooftop the boy had stopped on, and placed himself behind the black haired boy to try to get a feel for the situation.

At first, it seemed to be nothing in particular(though he didn't have a vocal at his distance, even if there had been any sort of discussion going on), but then Nero screamed in agony, and Genesis watched in fascinated horror as the boy's 'wings' mutated into grotesque, deformed, bat-like ones. He felt Sephiroth stop beside him as the wings finished forming, and both watched silently as Nero rose, pushed himself into the air, and began flying around. They could at least be thankful he targeted the Ravens, and only the Ravens, but it was unlikely that would remain a truism as time passed.

"...He...Jenova..." Genesis managed to get out, his voice shaking. He _knew_, somehow _he knew_, he would have to be the one to kill Nero.

"He let her in willingly," Sephiroth answered with a sad sigh. "And now that he's flying, we can't stay here, or he, and she, will know we're aware of the danger they now present. We also still have our own patrols we can't neglect."

After a short pause, Genesis sighed and gave a terse nod, then forced himself higher into the air and back to where he'd been on his patrol route, followed closely by Sephiroth. Both were suddenly halted with surprise as their PHS's alerted them to incoming messages. They traded apprehensive looks, then both checked their messages to find a notice from Lazard which was identical: _Two Reactors are being attacked by terrorists (apparently registered civilians) who have explosives. The guards are already dealing with Ravens. If you can divert, I need you to back them up, Sephiroth at 4 and Genesis at 7._

"Well..." Sephiroth sighed. "From here, I'll have to pass the building to get to Four, so I'll let Odin know we've been called away and will return as soon as possible."

"Sure..." Genesis agreed, still feeling ill and terse. "I'll head right over, then. But civilians are helping the terrorists? That's just..."

"We'll have to deal with that later. This is turning into a bigger mess than anyone was aware it would, even Ed," the silver haired man agreed, sounding pained and tired.

"Without him, though, we'd probably have already lost half the city," Genesis had to admit with a faint smile. "Later, then." He then wheeled to fly for Reactor 7, not paying any attention to Sephiroth as his mind was still on what he'd seen.

And he still couldn't shake the feeling that it would have to be him, despite Ed also having the same skills.

FoWD

Rude was doing a quick circle of the walkway around the control tower, knowing a few more Wutains were approaching after they had all broken and ran earlier. Only the three chosen SOLDIERs and he himself were left at the pillar, as the others had all gone into town after the rest of the Wutains. There were no grappling hooks visible on the walkway edges or the rails, so he knew none were coming up that way. At least not right then. He still had a bad feeling—and knew what it was as soon as he got back to the stair side of the walkway.

Five Wutains had reached the top, and one was carrying an explosive he knew would be powerful enough to bring down the pillar, even if it didn't trigger the explosives linked to the control room. While he was nowhere near as good with explosives as Kariya, he still knew exactly what he was looking at, its power, and what could stop it. He had no time to play with the wires, the SOLDIERs were outnumbered with the Wutains having Shields on them, and he really only had one choice.

Especially when the Wutain with bomb darted past the three SOLDIERs.

He knew he—all of them—were about to die, and that even Phoenix wouldn't have been able to save them, even if it had been nearby just then. As it so happened, neither Phoenix nor Sylph were anywhere in view, let alone in range, and he had a lot more to save than just the lives of four 'soldiers' who all knew they had signed up for possible—for likely—early death when they'd joined Shinra. There was nothing for it—that Wutain couldn't reach the pillar with the bomb, and if all of them were about to die, the best bet was going to be to destroy the stairs so no one else would be able to get back up there easily.

His decision made, Rude jumped forward and bodily hit the man, using his own momentum and weight to shove him back—to shove all of them back right to the stairs—

The last thing he saw was the rippling orange of the explosion, the last thing he felt was the searing pain.

Then, silent darkness.

FoWD

In Sector 3, where the damaged street was, Sirra jolted as she heard a massive explosion from the direction of the pillar, and her heart jumped into her throat. "The pillar?" she asked tensely, knowing Ruluf could see down the street without having to move and aggravate his injuries, which weren't yet healed.

"Still standing—we'd be royally fucked and it'd be raining metal if it wasn't," he replied dryly, though there was also worry in it. "But that explosion wasn't small, and I doubt there was no damage."

"Damn," she muttered tiredly, knowing they weren't quite fit to do anything yet. The two Summons had diverted to other areas of the Slums not long ago, apparently having deemed everyone right there as being as healed as they could make them, but the last round of over-time healing from the scaled one was still working on them.

A few minutes later, however, Phoenix flew overhead with a sorrowful cry as it sent out a wave of healing fire. With that wave of strong healing, Sirra finally felt strong enough to move over to sit beside the younger Turk. She had been rubbing her broken arm as it had slowly healed, but with Phoenix's introduction to the scene, everyone found themselves fully healed for reasons she wasn't sure she grasped—even Summon healing used the body's resources and couldn't just keep doing it indefinitely. She was thankful, though.

"How're you doing, 'luf?" she asked him, turning to look at the younger man. It was obvious they both were going to have some wicked scarring from the burns, but seeing how many of those showed on his body and face was mind-boggling. And she'd have more still than he did. At least her lungs and chest had finally stopped hurting, too, but her tank top was fit for a garbage bin in the near future—she was just glad it was still holding together.

"Better than you, I would think," he replied in vague amusement, testing his damaged leg. Like with her arm, it appeared to have fully healed, and he pushed himself to his feet to try walking on it.

She also rose, along with the others in the alley, and Shears approached them, about to say something—only for a distant shout of "Incoming!" to reach them.

Instinctively, all the combat personnel turned to face it, and Shears, Ruluf, and Sirra all gaped as several furious Wutains descended on the Deepground members who had been helping out. It only took a few moments for most of the Deepground members to be dead, but as they watched, two Wutains also died, having been shot from behind.

With a furious growl, Sirra drew her guns, checked them quickly for usability, then began shooting the Wutains down, too. It didn't take long for Ruluf to join her, and Shears actively jumped into battle to attack them, killing two himself, and the remaining Deepground members were holding their own as well. The problem was the Wutains' Shields, and she gave an annoyed huff as she realized shooting them wasn't going to be an easy way to finish the fight.

One jumped at her—Shears gave an alarmed shout and moved in that direction—so she moved into a crouch and caught the Wutain's gunlance blade on her gun, letting him slide forward without being able to either attack or withdraw. That neatly placed her _inside_ his Shield bubble, and that was a very good place to be just then, despite how she'd just utterly ruined one of her guns. When he was pressed against her, she smirked and muttered, "Psych!" as she seized the dagger she knew they all had at their waists. With it, she was able to force him back, slicing off his bracer as she did.

Before he had more than a moment to register what she'd just done, she had already followed him and shoved him to the broken ground, bashing his head against a rock in the tumble, then slitting his throat for good measure, leaving her kneeling on the dead man's chest. Shears stopped a couple feet away, staring at her in amazement as she reached for the bracer she'd cut free from his wrist. Sure enough, as indicated by his lack of Shield once the armor had been removed, it had a Shield Materia on it, so she grinned at Shears and said, "Check mate."

He blinked, then smirked and turned back to the remaining Wutains, Ruluf shooting over her head—and a couple minutes later, the last of the Wutains were dead, making the three and the remaining Deepground members look for the shooter who had been behind the Wutains. It didn't take long to see Eonna in her Turk uniform as she stared in something like stunned horror at her fellow Turks.

"Sirra? Ruluf? What in Shiva's name happened to you?" Eonna asked.

"We got caught in the opening salvo after Sirra took down Fuhito," Ruluf replied in amusement. "But when Phoenix got here, the over-time healing of that scaled Summon suddenly became full healing. The pillar?"

Eonna shook her head and replied, "I had left to follow the Wutains who broke and ran, so I don't know what happened there. I have to get back, though, because—that explosion was high-powered, and I honestly don't think many, if any, of the defenders are still alive."

"We'll go, too," Sirra told her.

"But your injuries—" the other woman began in alarm.

"We're good," Sirra shrugged, flipping the dagger she'd hijacked into the air, catching it, and slipping it into her belt. "Ruluf, grab a dagger off one of the bodies—we'll need to start using them if we run out of ammo. Or end up down a gun or two."

"Fine," the younger man agreed in amusement, moving over to a nearby body to grab a dagger from it and slip it into his own pants waistline.

"I'm going with you, too," Shears added. "Especially if it's true no one's there to defend it anymore."

With a sigh as Ruluf rejoined them, Eonna agreed, "Fine, let's go, then. But don't blame me if you two get yourselves killed by over-reaching."

"Gotcha," Sirra agreed with an amused smirk.

All four began jogging in the direction of the pillar, and when they got to it, they could only stare at the charred bodies they could see scattered around on (and in) the crumpled metal of the stair. It reached about two stories into the air, but nowhere near to the control room at the top, and of the walkway up there, only some twisted, dangling metal was left to the far side of the control room. Identifying the bodies in the heap of stair would be hard, but at least the worst damage to the pillar seemed to be blackening up near the control room.

Eonna's PHS suddenly rang, so she pulled it out, checked it for the caller, then answered it as she asked, "What is it, Weiss?" The others blinked and traded looks, but she sighed faintly and told him, "We'll do that, then, assuming we're able with the situation down here just now. In the meantime, is the core pillar secure?" After another pause, she said, "Later, then."

"The verdict?" Sirra asked.

"Robbing and ransacking is going on topside, so I'm pretty sure it's happening here, too," Eonna sighed. "We can't leave the pillar completely undefended if the Wutains have bombs that strong on them, but..."

"Then you and 'luf can go hunting. I'll stay here," Sirra answered.

"Are you sure?" Ruluf asked apprehensively.

"I'm already down a gun," she answered. "Hunting's harder that way. And I'm still feeling the cave-in from those assholes blowing up the street on us. You're in better shape than I am."

He looked down at himself and his tattered, bloody clothes, remembering how Shears had said 'and you're not?' when he'd told Ansha that Sirra was in bad shape, then looked back at her questioningly. "Aren't we in about the same shape?" he asked.

"You feel tired or sore just now?" she asked with a raised brow. Shears and Eonna traded startled looks.

"No, not really...?" he blinked in surprise.

"Then get going," she replied, turning to make her way over to the pillar below the remaining rail up at the top. She was tired enough that she knew she needed to rest before getting into another fight.

_~ Eonna ~_

"I'll stay here, too," Shears offered as Eonna was about to say something against the arrangement. "And with the attack still in progress, you can't afford to stay here because of worry."

The woman froze for a moment, then turned to look at the twisted heap of metal and corpses. "Eonna!" a familiar voice called, and a few minutes later, she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her start and look up at Riven, their First. His pained gaze moved from the heap to her as he said, "Just by a rough count, all four of ours are in there, and we don't have time to mourn just yet. If you've got trust-worthy guards for the pillar, then we'd better go. Leave the mourning for when the city's safe."

She blinked, then sighed and nodded. "I know. It's not the first time a Turk has died, and it won't be the last." Releasing a deep breath, she turned to Shears and said, "If what Sirra implied earlier is true, keep an eye on her so she doesn't over-reach and hurt herself again. We'll get back as soon as we can." He nodded and headed in the injured woman's direction, so she turned to Ruluf and asked, "Are you up to lending a hand, or would you rather stay here, Ruluf?"

"I feel fine—my injuries actually weren't as bad as hers, just to start," he answered. "I don't know what Phoenix did, but it wasn't its usual kind of healing." He paused to look over to where Sirra and Shears had sat down against the pillar, then looked back at Eonna and Riven and said, "I can manage."

"Got your Turk ID on you?" she asked as she nodded.

"Always," he agreed in wry amusement.

"Good, then we're set," Eonna said, and turned back towards the Slum streets. Both Riven and Ruluf followed her.


	86. 84-Explosive Track

**A/N:** Just two words: Go, Rufus! (He hasn't really been getting enough screen time or love in this one, has he? I hope this makes up for it.)

Explosive Track

Rufus and Argento had reached the bottom door of the stair, which was likely on the lower spiral of two down the core pillar, and they could hear their three extra support people running down the stairs above to join them. The plan was to wait for them, because both he and Argento were sure it would come out onto the track, just by the direction it faced. Unfortunately, when it suddenly popped open, both of them knew they couldn't wait, so he drew his gun to shoot through the opening as Argento drew her blade and bodily dove through it between his shots. He'd only gotten two shots off, and Argento had managed to kill the next two nearest the door before their Shields came up.

He moved to take shelter at the side of the door—and as he heard a grenade go off, making the floor and wall rock, he was thankful he'd taken that action. Readying his gun, he glanced around the side of the now-damaged opening and sighted on his most likely targets. Near the outer edge of the track were two Wutains who seemed to be in the clear for him to shoot, so he moved suddenly into the open and shot the first. Sure enough, it hit, but as the first fell, the second dove for cover and he had to pull back as he realized he was in the sights of a gunlance.

As the shots hit the wall behind him (was it actually crumbling?), Doriss, Alvis, and Angeal reached him, the woman asking, "Why didn't you wait?"

"They opened the door. We weren't left much choice," he replied in annoyance, and both Turks' eyes widened.

"_They knew_ about a path _we_ didn't?" Alvis breathed in horror.

"Well, I'd better get out there and give you three a chance to get out of here before one decides to toss a grenade into the stairwell," Angeal cut in, then hoisted his buster sword off his back, held it like a shield in front of him, and charged through the door into the middle of the battle alongside Argento.

"They have Shield Materia," Rufus told the two other Turks. "And one of them is aiming at the door to keep me pinned."

"I can handle that," Alvis replied, crouching to look around the jamb. A moment later, he smirked and said, "We're all good—he's in Pyramid."

The three traded nods, then readied their weapons and dove out the door, Rufus immediately sighting on the man stuck in the Pyramid to take him down. With his action, Alvis was able to put another up on someone else much sooner, and it didn't take long for a Wutain sneaking up behind Argento to end up bound. Doriss had literally vanished from view at some point, but a Wutain further down the track died suddenly with a slit throat, so he knew she was there. For his part, he had to find someone to shoot who wasn't Shielded, or whose Shield had just gone down.

It shocked him, and horrified him, to realize there were over thirty men and women there just then, on the tracks alone. _How_ many Wutains had gotten into the city? And only five people were going to handle them all?

With a faint sigh, he kept targeting the ones he could from behind one of the columns by the track wall, watching the numbers start to dwindle and finding it amusing how Angeal and Argento fought. He was like a wall, creating space, keeping them back and occupied with dodging heavy swings which would be fatal if they hit, while Argento would step back, brace herself, then suddenly launch herself forward around the man with snake-like strikes. Those hits often downed Shields or even killed a target, but the Wutains couldn't retaliate with Angeal in the way, despite her being their major killer. Alvis had fit into that pattern by taking care of the ones trying to sneak past, first by trapping them in Pyramid, then by killing them with his EMR.

In the meantime, Rufus and Doriss were picking off anyone they could, her from directly behind them (how was she staying hidden, apparently even from them?), and him from in front. With how many they had killed while trying to keep them away from the door, they should have gotten the Shield caster by then, but it seemed they still hadn't, making him frown in puzzlement—even more because the rest didn't seem to be casting spells _at all_, not even Invis, which they were known to use like it was going out of style. That wasn't to say they were weak—they were far from it—but they had broken their usual pattern.

Pausing as he found all the Wutains he could target under Shields, he began scanning the area, eyes drifting around almost absently along the metal grid-work keeping the tracks up—then widening as he realized several of the Wutains were climbing that grid-work to both sides of the track, heading towards the track above them. What could he do about that? His gaze moved back to the battle for a moment, realizing he couldn't take any of those three away from the door's defense, leaving him only one option. Two, actually.

Pulling out his PHS, he quickly sent to his mother: _Alert the guards at the station that some Wutains will come up from the tracks—they're climbing right now. We'll get as many as we can, but some are already too far up for us to reach._

He then found Doriss' number and texted over to her: _Look up. The outside ones are yours._

After waiting a minute to let Doriss get into a more useful position, he put his PHS away and turned his attention back to 'the battle in front of him' while targeting the climbers against the pillar out of the corner of his eye. Raising his gun again as though he was going to shoot someone whose Shield had just gone down, he suddenly moved a few steps from the pillar wall, out onto the tracks, and aimed up at the lowest of the ones almost directly above him. Before that one had begun falling, he'd targeted and shot another further down, and the two past that as well.

The first hit the ground where he'd previously taken shelter, the second hit right beside the battle outside the door—that caused a pause in the battle and a sense of horror from the other three defenders—and the other two hit further down. In quick succession, like punctuation to his, two more on the outside fell, hitting the edge of the tracks, then falling further down. The Wutains trying to reach the door re-doubled their attack, and Angeal, Argento, and Alvis had no choice but to keep their focus there, even as another one fell on the outside of the track and he aimed at another on his side who had drawn his gunlance to shoot at the blond man.

That was about when things took a more difficult turn, as one of the ones above him jumped down, aiming to land on him. Rufus was able to dodge the man's landing, but was also forced to fight him in close quarters with his fists and feet, an exchange of blows which lasted for several minutes and forced him into the middle of the track. It was an intense battle, and he found himself having trouble keeping his footing—only to realize the difficulty came from the track shaking and destabilizing them. Glancing down at the shaking track, he wondered what was causing it—and came to only one possible answer.

"The train has been hijacked!" he shouted in alarm. "Dodge!"

The trembling was getting worse, and Alvis was the first to retreat to the doorway, followed by Argento as some of the Wutains dove either for the pillar wall or the edge of the tracks. By the time he got into a good position to shoot the man through the heart, Rufus was almost out of time, so dove for the outer edge of the track as the train came careening around the side of the pillar. Catching the metal grid-work in one hand to grip and hold onto it, he holstered his gun and was only just able to see Angeal jump for the doorway. Above him, one of the Wutains smirked and brought his foot down hard on Rufus' fingers, causing him to cringe and hiss as he realized he wouldn't be able to hold on for long if the man kept doing that.

And, sure enough, between the shaking and the assault on his fingers, Rufus' grip released and he dropped into freefall. As he did, he saw the train hit some of the Wutains who had still been on the track, having not been quick enough to disengage from Angeal, saw it charge up the track past his location as some Wutains jumped onto it. He thought back to his mother's message saying she didn't want him hurt or killed, and smiled faintly as he closed his eyes. Well, he was a Turk, and Turks had short life expectancy, so...It looked like she would have to deal with his death after all.

Suddenly, something impacted his side and he felt his direction change to swing outward from the pillar, then back towards it—_fast_! Even though he and the person holding him were moving against gravity, they were somehow picking up speed, and soon after, he felt a hard impact on something solid and...in motion?

He just blinked upward for a minute as the other person lay half on him and panted, then pushed herself up and scowled down at him, saying, "I should kill you myself for that, you moron!" It was Doriss.

That made him blink and sit up to look around, seeing how they were...on top of the train? Yes, definitely on top of it, and no sign of the Wutains who had jumped on as it had passed. Apparently, they were on the rear car, one of her daggers acting as an anchor for them about a foot above his head. Regaining his bearings so he wouldn't slip off without something holding him in place meant she could quickly re-balanced herself and pull her dagger out from the top of the train.

"How did you do that?" he asked her in amazement.

"My thigh holsters are grappling hooks I can use for transportation after a fashion as much as for fighting," she replied dryly, amusement in her gaze. "That's how I got out of Midgar with Ed, and how I managed to survive Donnel going 'combat slave' on me once. It's also how I pretty much don't die from falling from a height. In this case, I swung over to grab you, knowing we'd be in more danger staying on the track than getting onto the train, and aimed my secondary shot for the train. And I'm sure you noticed the Wutains hitching a ride."

"I did," he agreed after giving her an amazed and awed look. "We have to do something about them before the train reaches the station."

"We do," she agreed. "And I really hope your skills are up to snuff, because there's only two of us to take on everyone on the train, and we'll have to try to stop it, too."

"We'll make our way to caboose, then," he agreed, motioning to the back of the train, where they'd be able to slip down and get the door open.

She hooked her grappling hooks to the ridges at the back of the car and lowered herself just enough to reach the door and get it open, then released the hooks and dropped into the open doorway. Rufus swung around the top edge of the door to land behind her in the back of the train car's walkway. As he landed, some small, white-green lights surged past him and rapidly moved forward, making him blink as Doriss frowned. They paused for only a moment, then moved forward to the space between that car and the next, where the lights had gathered at the hinge holding the two cars together—only both were sure the rear car shouldn't still have been attached to the one in front by how wide the hinge was open.

They traded alarmed looks and suddenly shoved forward into the next car, taking the two Wutains by surprise as Rufus shot one in the head and Doriss stabbed the other through the heart. In the meantime, the rear car had detached and begun slowing on the upward-tilted track. It didn't take them long to get through that car and to the next, where the hinge was just opening and the green-white lights were keeping it from doing so. Again, they traded looks, that time resigned, and turned to run through the next car, though they had to actively fight three Wutains that time, resulting in Rufus managing to kill two and Doriss one—largely because the second one hadn't been paying attention to him while he fought the Lady Turk, giving Rufus a free shot.

Over and over again, they progressed from car to car, sometimes passing through an empty one, sometimes having to fight to get through, and the only thing saving them every time was how those green-white lights were holding the cars together for them as they systematically released. Somehow, both of them knew those lights were Minerva, knew she was helping them, and knew she wouldn't be unless something would go very, very wrong if they couldn't stop the train before it reached the end of the track.

"Why?" Doriss panted as they reached the next car, where there was no one. They only had one more car to the cab, other than the one they were on.

"Why what?" he asked in confusion, feeling his legs starting to ache and wincing as a muscle pulled.

"Why is she so worried about the train that she'd help us stop it like this?" she clarified, verifying the fact that both of them were thinking the same thing.

As they made their way to the front of the car, he puzzled over the words—until he remembered some of the records he'd seen and paled. "_Fucking Hellfire_!" he swore, making the woman look at him in shock. "If the train doesn't stop at the station, if it just keeps going at its top speed, it'll hit the core pillar wall, and it'll basically be hitting it right at its keystone. What happens to an arch if you take out its keystone?"

She turned pale as she breathed, "They're going to collapse the core pillar, and the whole of Midgar by extension!"

"Effectively," he agreed tersely, and both of their adrenaline spiked as they reached the door to the next car.

There was one man, different from the rest, in that car, who was large and animal-ish in appearance. It was hard to tell what kind of animal, though a Behemoth (1) wouldn't have been out of place with his horns, fangs, mane, and claws, or the faint hue of blue in his skin. Before they could move, he charged at them, and they were forced to jump aside to avoid his horns, which also should have given them a free shot, but he turned too fast to face Rufus and launched another attack, which not only forced the blond man to defend, but took the Wutain outside Doriss' range.

What neither of them anticipated as Rufus was struggling to keep the man's horns from skewering his neck, was how strong cords suddenly yanked his feet out from under him and dragged him up into the rafters of the train car. Rufus blinked at the man who was now hanging upside down, then quickly retrieved his gun, noting how the man's horns and claws kept Doriss back from being able to end the fight. Once he'd retrieved his gun, a well-placed shot to the heart with a Bolt Bullet ended the deformed Wutain and the two stared at one another for a moment.

Finally, Doriss dropped the man from her grappling hooks and the two proceeded to the cab, then paused as the woman caught his arm. "Rufus, how much do you know about driving a train? Because honestly, I know nothing."

"I know some, but not a lot. I should be able to stop it, but not much more," he replied.

She nodded and said, "Then, I need you to go straight for the controls, no matter who or what we find in there, because we're running out of time to stop this thing."

He drew in a deep breath, released it, and nodded. "I'll do that, then. Don't be surprised if I 'look weak' in the meantime so anyone in there doesn't think they need to pay attention to me."

She nodded and opened the door to the hinge. It was clear it was also only barely being held in place by the green-white lights, so the woman shoved the last door open and the two jumped into the cab, even as the final hinge let go. They found themselves in a more narrow space than the cars had been, though there were no seats to hinder movement, and one side of the cab was obviously housing the engine as it worked. There was a Wutain man who was less bulky than the previous one, but still looking deformed, and the two could see through the front window that the tunnel leading to the station was rapidly approaching.

The Wutain was reminiscent of a wolf, or by the pale coloring and mane, a Bandersnatch (1), and both knew a Bandersnatch was bad news. He also held two katanas, one in each clawed hand, and stated to them simply, "So you made it here. But, you're too late."

"The train's not at the station yet," Rufus replied blandly. "Frankly, this was shockingly reckless of you. Careless fools."

With a furious snarl, the man shot forward, forcing Rufus to sacrifice his gun to block one of his blades as he barely dodged the other—but that other blade still embedded itself in the wall behind him, only an inch from his head. "Weakling! Your arrogance will be your undoing!"

As he was lifting the other blade to bring it down on Rufus, who was just staring at him with wide eyes, the Wutain suddenly jolted, _howled_ in pain, and spun to face behind him, where Doriss was holding up two bloody blades. "Don't forget about me..." she hissed in a dangerous tone, and Rufus blinked at the two long, bloody gashes down the man's back. Shouldn't her weapons have done more damage than that? As the Wutain charged at Doriss and the two began a rapid exchange of blade strikes, however, he shook off that question.

Dropping to the ground, he eyed the damage to his gun—it was missing most of its muzzle, and the cut was diagonal—and realized he could still use it, but only close up, and probably only once, maybe twice, before it would just fall apart. Quickly, he grabbed and holstered it, then eyed the battle between the two dual-blade users, looking for an opportunity to get past them to the console at the front of the cab. Shifting to a ready position as he saw Doriss turn them a bit, he blinked as the train hit the darkness of the tunnel, then saw his opening behind the Wutain and dove for it.

It only took a few moments once he was past them to reach the console and start hitting the buttons and switches which would bring the train to a gradual stop (it was virtually impossible to instantly stop something with forward motion without ramming it into something). That part of the job only took a few moments, then he was able to seize the brake handle and squeeze the lever to the grip before slowly pulling it down. The brakes activated and the train began slowing as they came around the last turn to the station, and he finished the downward swing before releasing it—

And his eyes caught sight of those small, white-green lights again, making him turn to face Doriss and the Wutain, who were still struggling against one another. Hundreds of those lights were floating around in the cab, and he suddenly had a bad feeling as the train came to a halt at the platform.

"Train go BOOM!" the Wutain hollered suddenly with a smirk, bursting into maniacal laughter.

In the next moment, Rufus saw a flash of aquamarine (Carbuncle?) before the entire caboose erupted in flames. He felt himself being shoved back by explosion heat, heard glass (or something similar, as he was sure train windows were plexiglass, not glass) shattering, and saw the mixed yellow, orange, red, and black of the explosion surge over and around him, all in one instant. He wondered how he was still alive to feel himself falling, and cried out in pain as his back hit the tracks and the force of his momentum caused him to roll several times.

By the time he'd come to a stop, he was dizzy and aching, and he had a few minor burns, but nothing more serious, so he rolled over to face the sound of burning he could hear. The caboose had been reduced to deformed, melted metal still blazing with fire, and the entire station he could see beyond that was damaged and blackened, though he could see some of the Deepground guards there pushing themselves up. While some probably had died in the explosion, it seemed there was still a decent number of them to defend the station, and being Mako-enhanced meant they would heal a lot faster than he would.

He blinked as a few suddenly ran to the side of the ruined cab and one started using Water to put out the fires in one section, creating a burst of steam from the location. Then, a lithe, scaled, Wutain woman (1) landed between him and the cab, making him blink again and forcibly drag himself to his feet, noting how he was a blackened mess, despite his lack of severe burns and damage. She, apparently, hadn't taken any damage at all, making him wonder how, but he noted the impressed, puzzled expression in her eyes. Since she didn't seem inclined to attack him right away, he ran his hands over his face and through his hair, then faced her again, even as he cast a few Cures on himself.

Tipping her head to the side, she asked, "How did you survive that?" Her voice had a strange, hissing sound to it, making him grateful Argento was a human with snake-like qualities, rather than a humanoid snake.

His lips quirked upward in amusement as he replied, "How did _you_?"

"Tell me or your life is forfeit," she ordered with a scowl.

"I daresay it is regardless," Rufus pointed out bluntly. "I'm hardly of a mind to start telling you ways to beat us just to spare myself for an extra few minutes."

She literally snarled at the response, then said, "So be it," and jumped at him.

Rufus had been expecting it, and met her with his fists and feet, suddenly incredibly thankful for the intensive training he'd gone through as a Turk—he imagined fighting her was a lot like fighting a hybrid of Rosso and Argento by the way she moved. If his mother hadn't insisted he learn to fight with a dagger and his fists and feet as well as a gun, he'd definitely have been dead within her first few attacks. Holding his own, however, didn't mean he was winning by any means, and when she activated a Shield spell, he was forced back from her a bit.

Forced to dodge her a few times before he was in a good position to actually let her close the distance, he was able to assess her weapons, which she hadn't yet drawn—two short swords and a dagger. And, unless he missed his guess, she also had a high-powered bomb on her. For some reason, those all worried him, but then he was in a good position to let her put him inside her Shield and actually get a hit in, so he just slipped a bit to the side to dodge her fist that time, which resulted in her punching the wall at his back (and beside the tracks) and him aiming a sharp jab at her liver.

With a hiss of pain, she jumped back several paces, holding the spot he'd hit, then glared and drew her short swords as he took a few steps forward. If she was going to have greater reach now, he'd need space to dodge, and if at all possible, he'd need to get his hands on her dagger—maybe her bomb, too. However, dodging those blades was a lot harder than dodging her fists, and it didn't take long for bleeding injuries to be scattered all over his body from small cuts she'd managed to score on him if he hadn't been quite fast enough to dodge. Still, he held his own, and he could tell she was getting annoyed.

As two of the Deepground members jumped at her from behind, she swung her blades to decapitate both, then jumped at Rufus again—but it seemed the interruption had caused her to forget why she was now keeping her distance, and instead of pulling back, he ducked below her blades. Doing so placed him inside her Shield again, and in that moment, brought her waist within his reach so he could seize both her dagger and the bomb, the latter which he immediately slipped into the back of his belt as he jumped back from her.

The Wutain woman was staring at him in shock and amazement as she said with respect in her voice, "It's truly a pity you're an enemy, Rufus Shinra. I rarely meet a worthy opponent."

His lips quirked and he replied, "As honored as I am by your praise, I doubt it would be possible for us to be allies." He then braced himself with one hand held forward and the hand with the dagger in it above his head. By then, he'd also found her bracer, and he knew he had to get it off her.

"Rufus!" he heard Doriss yell in pain. The woman turned to look, so he looked past her to see the platform, where a severely injured, largely burnt, Doriss was kneeling on it while two of the Deepground men held her back and a few others jumped down to the tracks.

"Oh, dear. It seems I worried her," he commented, jumping at the Wutain woman.

She responded to the attack as though she had no Shield on, turning to meet his attack and shoving forward to push him back, but she'd miscalculated his goal and guarded her upper body, not her thigh, which was where he brought the dagger down to slice through the side of her pants, and through her bracer. The bracer came off, and as she tried to attack him in alarm, he blocked her with the dagger, shoved his shoulder into her chest, and drew his gun with his free hand, pressing what was left of the muzzle to the underside of her chin and shooting upward into her head.

He breathed a sigh of relief—and swayed a bit—as she collapsed at his feet, dead. To his surprise, two of the Deepground men almost reverently helped him back to the platform and over to where Doriss was still being held down, so he sat beside her and leaned his shoulder against hers.

"Idiot!" she muttered, leaning her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

"...At least I'm a living one," he answered, thankful he could sit down now. She gave an amused snort.

**Notes:**

(1) I actually didn't realize the parallel I had drawn to Greed's crew of chimeras when I developed these three characters until Khait Khepri pointed it out to me, so yeah...It wasn't originally my intent, but why not? That gave me the perfect opening to add a lizard, too, though those four options aren't the only chimeras who will appear in this incident. FMA reference, anyone?


End file.
